To Mary and Farrah:
 
>He will have to do surgery again eventually and I am very worried.  Does
>anyone have any experience with ferret transfusions?  I know one doctor who
>does them, but my vet doesn't really consider transfusions an option.  Does
>anyone have any experience with this?
 
The bleeding that you mentioned in your post is certainly unusual.  There
are not a lot of things that will cause increased bleeding times in animals.
A lack of platelets will certainly do it (although your ferret's platelets
were considered to be normal in number.) A platelet function defect can do
it also, although this has not been reported in ferrets.  Some vitamin or
mineral deficiencies such as vitamin C and copper can cause defects in the
vascular walls that will result in an increased bleeding time.
 
These conditions also show other signs, namely small hemorrhages throughout
the body in the absence of trauma, known as petechiae.  These can be easily
picked up in the gums, eyes, or vulva if present.
 
For those not familiar with the bleeding time test itself, this test is
measured by making a standard superficial cut on an animal and measuring how
long it takes to stop bleeding.  Sounds horrible, but really isn't.
 
Another type of clotting abnormality is a lack of the components of the
clotting cascade, the materials that allow the body to form clots.  This is
different than the platelets, which can only plug small holes.  However,
animals with clotting defects (such as hemophiliacs), have profound
hemorrhaging, especially into body cavities, and probably wouldn't survive
any surgery.
 
Regarding transfusions, ferrets do not have demonstrable (or at least
clinically significant blood groups.) Blood from any other ferret can be
used for transfusion, at least to the extent that we can measure transfusion
reactions.  No more than 10 cc's per donor, please.
 
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP              Chief Pathologist, AccuPath
[Posted in FML issue 1666]