>My only experience with pred was with Chance.  Prior to pancreas
>surgery, his liver (whatever you call it) were elevated.  My vet
>attributed it to the pred.  We took him off pred after surgery, and
>when I had blood work done again to see what was wrong with him, the
>liver was in the normal range again
 
Dogs and cats on long term low-dose or short term high-dose prednisone
develop a liver problem called steroid hepatopathy.  However, this really
isn't a documented problem in ferrets.
 
Elevated levels of certain enzymes in the liver of ferrets, names ALT and
alkaline phosphatase are very commonly elevated in sick ferrets due to a
lack or eating and mobilization of fat stores to provide energy.  This
fat tends to travel to the liver in large amounts, causing the liver cells
to swell with fat globules, and resulting in elevation of these enzymes.
 
When the animal starts eating well again (normally when it gets over
whatever illness is causing it to not eat) the cells shrink, and enzyme
levels will slowly return to normal.  This is often attributed to the
direct affect of some therapy, but probably occurs on its own unrelated
to any particular drug.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 3816]