[Any particular reason why you put ">" in the front of all your text?
Makes it look like quoted text in a followup, and automated mailing lists
would trim it down.  Indeed, since it was all ">", they'd probably
bounce the message altogether.]
 
This is an update on my little furry, C-pi (that's short for Cutie
Pie, a C and a pi sign), who almost didn't make it due to kidney failure a
few weeks ago. A couple of days after exploratory surgery, her temperature
dropped alarmingly to eight degrees below normal and she had to be kept in
an incubator overnight to get her temperature back to normal. I called the
hospital every 1 1/2 hours to see if she was still alive.
 
The initial diagnosis following her biopsy was glomerulonephritis, a
chronic kidney disease that causes failure of the tubules in the kidney
that filter toxins from blood. No one knew for sure how much good kidney
she still had left, but it didn't look promising. It was surmised that the
cause was autoimmune -- for some reason, her body's immune system became
overactive and turned on itself. It was also thought that the cause might
have been Aleutian mink disease; a serum test by United Vaccines in
Madison, Wisconsin, on all three of my ferrets ruled that out. A later
diagnosis (second opinion) was that her kidneys had been gradually shut
down by scar tissue from an unknown source, perhaps congenital or a
urinary tract infection, and was probably not treatable.
 
All I knew was that if the cause was autoimmune, there was a slim chance
that treatment with a steroid, prednisone, would help. If the disease was
glomerulonephritis, it might even restore some of the kidney function by
giving the body a chance to clear out some of the protein deposits
blocking filtration. It was a long shot, and most of the vets wanted me to
euthanize her. But she wasn't in pain and she seemed to be eating better
and getting stronger with time, and I wanted to give her every chance to
make it.
 
She has now been on prednisone (a children's cough syrup solution
disguised with Nutrical) for 2 1/2 weeks. She plays and dinks around
the house more than she has in a long time. She eats a bunch and has
gained back some of her former weight and is now almost 1 1/2 pounds. She
gets an iron supplement twice a day to treat her anemia, since the kidneys
are also responsible for stimulating the bone marrow to produce red blood
cells. She has gone from being hydrated three times a day to only once a
day; I suspect that in the near future, my vet will want me to cut that
back again. At the end of this week, we will cut back her prednisone to a
smaller maintenance dose. She eats a low-protein diet, similar to what an
aging cat or dog with kidney trouble would eat. She gets Ferretone in her
water to encourage her to drink more, and I feed her water a couple of
times a day (as much as I can get her to drink) from an eye dropper.
 
Best of all, her bloodwork showed:
 
-- BUN (blood urea nitrates) 71 (down from 185 after surgery; normal is 35)
-- creatinines 1.7 (within normal range; down from 2.5)
-- phosphates 9.9 (a little high yet; no prior measurement in this category)
 
Of course, no one knows how long her kidneys will last, but my vet says
the lower blood levels of things the kidneys are supposed to
filter out is a sign that the prednisone is reducing inflammation.
 
She's such a cutie. She is starting to get little downy furs again on her
tummy (surgery site) and her neck (favored place for blood samples) and her
legs (IV sites). She fights the subcutaneous injections of fluids more
than ever. She chases the other little ferrets and makes them stay out of
the special cage she slept in during her recovery. She loves raisins,
Ferretone, and Nutrical. Now and then she cuddles up with one of the other
two ferrets to sleep.
 
Thanks to everyone for your help, esp. Dr. Williams and the person who
added me to the FML when I was in distress.
 
Linda, C-pi, Esperanza, and Frankie (Frankie is a girl whose owners
                thought she was a boy because of her swollen vulva;
                they had rescued her from starvation in the great outdoors;
                I knew she was in heat and needed surgery; now she's mine)
[Posted in FML issue 1005]