Hello Everyone,
 
About a week ago, I posted about my little Pixie (4.5 yo, MF female) who was
sick, and asked for advice.  Well, she is not showing a lot of improvement,
so I'm sending more info to see if you all can help out my vet and I (he has
some ferret experience, and is a great doc, even though he wouldn't classify
himself as a ferret-expert).
 
Background: Saturday, July 4th, Pixie was her normal energetic self.
Sunday, July 5th we were out of the house so she didn't get her normal
morning time out, and she was sleepy at her evening time (which is not
anything unusual).  Monday, July 6th, she was limp (not that she couldn't
move if encouraged, but she didn't want to) and just wanted to sleep.  We
went to work as normal, but checked on her mid-afternoon (at which time we
gave her a little mineral oil, suspecting blockage) and evening, and she
hadn't eaten anything.  She pooped a little after the mineral oil, and it
was "grainy" and soft, but normal-colored.
 
She went to the emergency vet that evening.  The vet found a highly enlarged
spleen and did an x-ray, which also showed a potential blockage along with
the enlarged spleen.  All other organs appeared normal.  The did bloodwork,
and since she had not eaten since at least 10am, they even checked blood
sugar.  The results were:
 
   ALB     2.12 g/dl       HCT    34.3%
   ALKP   35 IU            HGB    11.1 g/dl
   ALT   166 IU            MCHC   32.4 g/dl
   BUN    24.8  mg/dl      WBC   # 5.9 x 10/L
   CREA     .22 mg/dl      GRANS # 5.3 x 10/L
   GLU   161.6  mg/dl      L/M   # 0.6 x 10/L
                           PLT # 513 x 10/L
 
Because of the enlarged spleen, the emergency vet checked the platelets and
said the count was good.  In fact, she said that other than the enlarged
spleen and lethargy, Pixie was one healthy ferret.  Her temp that night was
103.  Her weight was 2.7 lbs.  The emergency vet gave us Nutrical to
suppliment, and we gave it to her three times that night.  She did a very
soft poopy that morning, about the dark color of the Nutrical.
 
The next day we took her to the regular vet.  He found enlarged lymph nodes
and did an aspirate, thinking lymphoma or lymphoscarcoma, but he didn't
find any malignant cells (later confirmed by a pathologist).  Her temp
while she was there was 105.2 at one point, under 105 when they sent her
home with us.  So, the diagnosis was massive infection.  The did bloodwork
to check if it was centered in the liver or kidneys, and said that no, it
wasn't in either of those places.
 
So, she came home to us with Clavamox (amoxy-drops).  She has gotten better,
but won't eat on her own.  She doesn't have much energy, although she still
plays in her dryer-hose and crunchy sack.
 
The night she got home, I fed her some mash (kibble softened in pedialyte
and crushed with more pedialyte).  The following morning, she had a small,
dark, soft poopy.  She has been doing that sort of poopy on a regular basis.
 
She went back to the vet yesterday (Monday, July 13th).  Her temp was 104.2
and her weight was 2 lbs.  Her spleen and lymph nodes are still enlarged
(the vet said she has the largest spleen he's ever seen on a ferret, but in
his words, ferrets' spleen enlarges at the drop of a hat and it is a very
non-specific symptom).  He says he would have liked to see her making a
more rapid improvement.  (Oh, on the temperature, the ride to the vet is 25
minutes, I live in Florida, and I don't have A/C in my car, so that may be
why it was a little elevated - no flames, I gave her cool water, kept the
air flowing, and kept her out of the sun).
 
I do not recall if the vet checked for coccillia (sp?) or guardia (sp?) but
when I asked about heliobacter, he stated that he had never seen a case of
it in ferrets.  I faxed him info from Ferret Central, and when I saw him
for the re-check, he said he did not feel the symptoms matched enough to
consider it a possibility.  (I had taken them a stool sample when I first
went in, and they were happy to get it, so I assume they tested it, although
they didn't mention it and I forgot to ask.)
 
Sorry this got so long, but I wanted you to have as much info as possible
so I could get your opinions on what to have my vet check or what we can
try to help her.
 
Thanks for any help you can give.
 
Debbie & Jim
Pixie (The one in charge)
 
P.S.
 
Just spoke with my vet after he spoke with the ferret-expert (Dr. Parrot,
what a great name for an exotics vet!).  She (Dr. Parrot) said that it is
probably adrenal or lymph cancer.  So, we are drawing blood for the
Tennessee panel to rule out (or confirm) adrenal.  I would still like any
other thoughts you all might have.  Oh, and I would like to confirm the cost
for the Tennessee panel in other areas of the country, so if anyone who has
had it done recently would email me, I would really appreciate it.
[Posted in FML issue 2370]