To Marilyn:
 
>Dr. Williams:  I wrote you before about the overdose of Vit. A.  Now I'm not
>sure if her liver enzymes were off because of the heart condition.  She's on
>Enalapril 2X per day and Lasix every other day.  She still gets weak in the
>hind quarters occasionally, but overall is very much improved.  Just going
>day by day and holding my breath.  I can't believe there's so much ferret
>love out there :)
 
        Marilyn - heart trouble will certainly raise liver enzymes - the liver
cells get starved for oxygens and the enzymes simply leak out through their now
porous membranes.
 
        Vit. A toxicity has still never been documented in ferrets, although we
talk about it a lot.  In cats - Vitamin A toxicity causes bone lesion, not liver
disease.  I have been unable to find any species in which Vitamin A toxicosis
causes liver damage.
 
        The moral to this story  - if you get a questionable diagnosis, talk
with someone else about it....
 
       Bruce Williams, DVM                 Department of Veterinary Pathology
       [log in to unmask]         Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
       (202) 782-2600/2602                 Washington, D.C.  20306-6000
[Posted in FML issue 0980]