Post by Deleted on Oct 26, 2013 20:46:16 GMT -5
My ferret Dodger's hind legs have been getting progressively weaker and in the past week have often gotten locked in a straight position and I even saw him just dragging the one behind him the other day. He is also "knuckling", which means standing on his knuckles sometimes and not correcting it on his own. I took him to the vet on Thursday night and the vet suspects insulinoma. We should get the full chem panel/CBC/blood test results back on Monday, and the preliminary blood glucose test was 120. However, this test was done with no fasting and he actually was eating in the waiting room because I didn't know we would be doing a test. So, next week we are going back for a supervised 4 hour fasting blood glucose test.
Due to the vet thinking it is probably insulinoma, he prescribed a trial of prednisolone at a dose of 0.08mL (15mg/5), two times a day. This morning I noticed that Dodger had a very alarming red rash/bruise on his chest and slightly on his back. I called the vet immediately and said Dodger was having an allergic reaction, but the vet said this doesn't make sense since the medication is a steroid usually used to TREAT allergic reactions. Well, I responded to him that this HAS to be related because the other ferrets don't have rashes and nothing else has changed in the past few days to cause this. I even sent pictures of the rash to him.
My second theory is that maybe they messed up when they took his blood sample and it caused bruising/internal bleeding? Has anyone seen anything like this before? Anyways the vet told me to not stop the medication and to just keep an eye on him until we get the blood results back on Monday. I want to stop the medication if he is allergic to it though so I don't hurt my baby!
Due to the vet thinking it is probably insulinoma, he prescribed a trial of prednisolone at a dose of 0.08mL (15mg/5), two times a day. This morning I noticed that Dodger had a very alarming red rash/bruise on his chest and slightly on his back. I called the vet immediately and said Dodger was having an allergic reaction, but the vet said this doesn't make sense since the medication is a steroid usually used to TREAT allergic reactions. Well, I responded to him that this HAS to be related because the other ferrets don't have rashes and nothing else has changed in the past few days to cause this. I even sent pictures of the rash to him.
My second theory is that maybe they messed up when they took his blood sample and it caused bruising/internal bleeding? Has anyone seen anything like this before? Anyways the vet told me to not stop the medication and to just keep an eye on him until we get the blood results back on Monday. I want to stop the medication if he is allergic to it though so I don't hurt my baby!
I do not think that is an allergic reaction but I do NOT like the look of whatever it is. Watch him closely for Any new symptoms and rush him to the vet ASAP if anything changes for the worse. Watch for swelling, lethargy, pale and/or tacky gums, shaking/ abnormal shivering, pale dry nose, heat (does the bruised area feel unusual hot), difficulty breathing, etc. if you notice any of these symptoms take him to the ER vet right away. Honesty the first 2 things that come to mind seeing that are internal bleeding (but the vet should have told you to come in after seeing the pics if that was a concern), and cancer. 
