Hello, I seldom post, but I do attempt to read each FML.  I'm hoping one of
you has some light to shed upon Bear's illness.  I'll try not to be too
long.
 
Bear was exhibiting agression symptoms of adrenal disease...he was also
battling prostate problems and has fought urinary tract infections ever
since we adopted him last august.  April 21st Bear had surgery to remove his
right adrenal gland (I think it was the right one....whichever is close to
the vena cava).  The surgery went well and Bear started to recover.  He was
doing well, drinking on his own, eating some food and then he took a turn
for the worse.  First he stopped eating, then he stopped drinking and became
dehydrated.  Our vet started giving Bear daily Sub-Q fluids with the thought
that we could flush Bear's kidneys (oops, I should have mentioned that the
blood panel showed all normal levels except for the BUN number which was
130 - everything else was normal, including all the other indicators of
kidney function....since this number is a sign of kidney function, thus the
intensive fluid therapy).  Well, Bear improved for a very short while (he
was also put on Orbax) and even ate a few pieces of hard food.  Now, Bear is
again refusing to eat and our vet has changed Bear's medication to Clavamox
and Enacard (the Enacard every other day to hopefully increase blood flow
through the kidneys).  It has been a week since Bear went on the Clavamox
and he's not improved or gone downhill....just staying the same.  Our vet
is getting stumped.  We had originally thought that all the infections Bear
had (took us almost 2 months to get rid of the one he came to us with) had
travelled up and given him a kidney infection.  Last tuesday (when Bear
started on Clavamox), a second set of bloodwork was done along with a
urinalysis.  Again, everything looked within normal range except the BUN
number, it hadn't changed from it's value of 130.  The urinalysis showed
some bacteria in the urine, but not much.
 
If anybody has any suggestions as to what might be happening please speak
up.  There is no worse feeling forcing food upon your ferret and making him
try to get away at the sight of you.
 
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
 
Steve and Kristina
(and Edison, Dakota, Bandit and, of course, Bear)
[Posted in FML issue 2321]