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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2015 14:23:46 GMT -5
Bless ur heart--hanging in there with u.
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Post by sherik on May 23, 2015 16:55:38 GMT -5
He just had another catheter put in. So dehydrated that he's not absorbing anything. He sure is a perky little ferret for being so ill. I put tylosin on his bandage and around the catheter to hopefully prevent him from chewing it this time. It is the worst tasting med ever.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2015 17:27:42 GMT -5
Little Sunny Bear, we're all wishing the best for you. Hugs and Hopes to both of you.
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Post by sherik on May 23, 2015 17:58:23 GMT -5
My vet is stumped. He should be responding better and not just here and there. She's been on every website where other vets give you advice on how to treat. And they all say the same thing. Maybe it is the digestive enzymes, because I know they can cause diarrhea if you don't really need them.
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Post by sherik on May 24, 2015 1:19:40 GMT -5
So I heard from my vet a couple hours ago. They redid his biopsy reports. And he apparently has low grade intestinal lymphoma. I don't get how it can go from mild inflammation in his intestines to lymphoma. She is currently doing chemotherapy on a dog who has the same thing, and would like to know if I would like to try it with him too. I have never heard of a ferret having chemo. I always thought that with IBD, that antibiotics work initially. Is that true for lymphoma too. Would antibiotics stop the diarrhea in lymphoma.
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Post by FireAngel on May 24, 2015 8:29:10 GMT -5
Lymphoma is cancer and sadly antibiotics do not work on it. They may help alleviate some of the associated symptoms that are being caused by the primary problem (lymphoma) but in the long run as long as the cancer is present, he will continue to have issues. I believe that most ferrents choose not to give chemo to their babies because the cure can be just as deadly as the disease with no guarantee of cure. It is very hard to watch a human try to process the poison that chemo is, let alone a teeny little ferret. Did your vet think surgery was an option? Lighting a candle to help you find the right path for your little one.
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2015 9:05:03 GMT -5
Prednisolone is what's used to help with lymphoma, and that is often prescribed with carafate/sucralfate to coat their tummies, since pred can cause ulcers. Perhaps that combo will help his tummy issues settle some.
And derp, just saw he's already on them. Perhaps you can try giving him the carafate more times a day? I'm not an expert with using the combo but I've seen others adjust how they give it and the meds to see if it'll help. Obviously talk to your vet about it too.
Sent from my Nexus 6 using proboards
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Post by FireAngel on May 24, 2015 9:28:18 GMT -5
Yes the predisolone, I thought he was already on that. The dosing can go pretty high if he is only on a low dose. That may help for sure.
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Post by sherik on May 24, 2015 12:04:16 GMT -5
Thank you. I know antibiotics won't work for lymphoma. I'm just confused if it is lymphoma, why did antibiotics initially work. That to me makes no sense. If I decide to do chemo. I won't go the whole iv crap. There is a double drug option. High prednisolone and leukeran. Both are IBD drugs that also can put low grade intestinal lymphoma into remission. Started him on the 2mg/kg prednisone divided into two doses last night. And he had a pretty good night. His poops although weren't formed, they were actually the norm brown colour. What bothers me, is there was no sign of cancer when he had surgery. His intestines were all healthy looking. No thickening or lumps anywhere.
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Post by FireAngel on May 24, 2015 12:33:55 GMT -5
Being on steroids during early disease prior to diagnoses can actually turn up false negatives. The steroid makes smaller the lumps and bumps so a physical exam may show nothing and may change lab results also. He may not have been reacting to the flagyl he was on but the prednisone, or he may have had a duel diagnoses with the lymphoma being missed. He was on generic flagyl and prednisone at the same time when you were getting good results yes? Or did I mix up threads?
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2015 12:40:10 GMT -5
I do hope if it is Lymphoma, it's early stage and you can find answers and help for him.
Our experience with Ponce was that when he began showing signs of Insulinoma, we took him to a vet. She was not a ferret specialist but did see ferrets. He was diagnosed in January (a few years back) after bloodwork and xrays.
The pred worked for awhile, then the symptoms came back. We increased the dosage and added Diazoxide. Then the meds did not help and his symptoms became worse.
When we took him back in March, this time she saw Lymphoma. He did not have it in January or the other visits. It showed up a few months later. Possibly, Lymphoma was not present during Sunny's surgery. I don't know how long it takes to appear, but in Ponce's case, it seemed like it happened over a two or three month period.
Our Vet spoke with a ferret specialist and the specialist felt that due to his age and condition, Chemo and surgery would be too hard on him. It would not cure the Lymphoma, the best we could hope for was to give him some more time. However, even she felt it was not an option for an older ferret. The time we would buy him would not be a happy time with so much of it recovery and dealing with chemo.
That was a few years ago and we are not in an area with as many options as you may have. I wish you all the best and much love and hugs to Sunny Bear.
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Post by sherik on May 24, 2015 12:54:09 GMT -5
He was not on prednisone when he had his surgery. We had tried it for 4 days with good results, until his antibiotics were done. Then the diarrhea came back. So we discontinued it, assuming he must have some other infection. Then he had surgery a week and a half later or so, I don't know anymore. and everything looked good. No inflammation or thickening. So then we thought pancreas insufficiency, and there is no test to diagnose that in ferrets. Atleast not in Canada. We started the enzymes, with mixed results. Finally got the results that he had IBD. Started him back on prednisone and metro because that worked for the 4 days. Also he wasn't on antibiotics for just 4 days, we just weren't seeing results, so added it in and everything went back to normal. He was gaining weight back. But this time with the metro, pred, enzymes he would have 4 or 5 good poops a day and the rest were gross. She told me to up his enzymes a little. That is when all h*ll broke loose. He now had explosive diarrhea again. So yesterday I lowered the dose to a quarter of what he was getting and things seemed to have settled for now.
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Post by FireAngel on May 24, 2015 13:03:38 GMT -5
I hate when there are more questions then answers and really hate it when non of the answers make sense. I'm so sorry you guys are going through this.
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2015 13:09:10 GMT -5
Hope the upping of enzyme was the culprit
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Post by sherik on May 24, 2015 13:48:26 GMT -5
Im watching his weight and weighing him everyday. He is not gaining weight, but he is also not losing anymore weight.
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