Hi,
 
I took Minnie to the vet Thursday for a recheck and was told her heart
murmur was gone (after 14 days of antibiotics for lethargy and anorexia),
but her spleen was large and the vet recommended a blood chemistry.  Then,
Saturday, I went to a second vet for a second opinion and was told she still
has a heart murmur and that she was referring me to a heart specialist.
What's going on?!  The second vet said the spleen felt normal and that a
blood chem.  would not help diagnose the heart.  She also looked at her full
body x-ray and said things looked fine (a heart cardiologist also thought
the heart looked normal in the x-ray).  I'm going with the second vet who
has more experience with ferrets.
 
As for the heart murmur, an ultrasound and ECG has been recommended, but
what are the possible diagnoses and treatments?  Her heart murmur is about a
three on a scale of six, with no heart disease symptoms present (the second
vet thinks she had a separate infection which only led to the diagnosis of
heart murmur).  I don't know how the first vet missed the murmur, because
the second let me listen to a normal ferret's heart and to Minnie's heart;
the first sounded like a solid beat, while Minnie's was a whooshy-musted
beating.
 
Minnie has been in heat 18 days and my vet (the second) doesn't want to spay
her without a diagnosis on the heart.  She doesn't have an ECG with which to
monitor the heart.  I'm loosing faith in the first vet.  Nor does the second
vet want to spay her while she's in heat, although one experienced vet said
(on the east coast, alas) that he had spayed ferrets in heat and with heart
murmurs.  I'm in a quandry.  I want to do what's safest for Minnie, but
don't want to go through expensive tests only to end up at the point I'm at.
So I'm back to, what are the possible diagnoses and solutions, including
estimated costs and, more importantly, risk (eg for heart valve surgery)?
I'm told her murmur is caused either by heart valve problems (sometimes
treatable by surgery) or heart disease (treatable by drug therapy).
 
Any and all help is welcomed!
 
Thank you very much,
 
Lynn Mc.
[Posted in FML issue 1453]