Dear Kate:
>and she was worse walking low to the floor but dropping one to two feet
>and like sleeping or resting for three to five minutes. On Thursday, I
>took her to our exotic vet. and she did x-rays on her and CBC, and all
>were clear. No spinal injuries, glucose was normal, etc. We waited until
>yesterday...Saturday for the white blood count and it came back very
>high...Im sorry I have no figures...But now she just crawls from toy to
>toy and hasnt eaten on her own since Thursday. Our vet. said she could
>have lymphosarcoma, but she wants to rule out lead poisoning, a tumor
>somewhere that you cant see on the x-ray or something that is an over-site.
Cases like this, I generally start with trying to rule out a foreign body -
young ferrets are most likely to have them, and the not eating, not moving,
fits with a foreign body (though certainly that would not be the only thing
that fits this particular profile.) The problem with foriegn bodies is
that they can be very stealthy - routing X-rays pick up only about 10%, and
barium studies only can double that. That's about 80% that are missed by
radiographic studies. For young ferrets, I tend to go to surgery pretty
quickly - the longer you wait, the worse a surgical candidate she becomes.
True, figures would be helpful here - I am a bit puzzled by the ruleout
list - lymphoma and lead. CBC should show evidence of lead - as it is very
rare in ferrets, without definitive evidence to go on, I would not want to
overlook more common diseases in young ferrets to chase this one. As far
as lymphoma is concerned, a high white count could be seen with leukemia,
but this again is not a common form of lymphoma. Juvenile lymphoma in a
failing ferret should show radiographic signs - enlarged thymus, liver,
and spleen -
One other thing - you mention that she hasn't eaten on her own since
Thursday. I am hopeful that your vet has provided you with a method and
materials for feeding her yourself....
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 3228]
|
