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Post by Heather on Jun 3, 2013 23:09:38 GMT -5
I've never had to deal with pneumonia either. I just read that besides what you're already doing you should not allow him to remain in the same position for any great length of time...Unfortunately, they did not elaborate as to what was a good length of time. As far as the fever, it's suggested that the ferret does not become chilled but all the sites that I hit suggested that besides keeping him hydrated that he must be attended by a vet for antibiotics. You've already done this One thing to remember is that a fever isn't a bad thing, a very high fever is a bad thing....It means his immunity is working....maybe not well but it's still there. A fever is a sign that the immunity has recognised an intruder (sounds like aliens...sorry) ciao
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Post by Heather on Jun 3, 2013 23:10:57 GMT -5
It means he's dehydrating....it's caused by the fever. His system is trying to flush the virus. Did they give you some sub-q fluids to give him? ciao
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2013 23:18:17 GMT -5
No, they didn't give me any to bring home, but they did give him 30mL (I think) there. I asked about that and they said that as long I keep him drinking he should be fine. They didn't seem to think he was too awful dehydrated. So I'm making his CG soup extra soupy.
So what would be a very high fever for a ferret? What is an acceptable fever for a ferret?
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Post by Sherry on Jun 3, 2013 23:34:30 GMT -5
Normal temps would be 101-103. I'm thinking 105 would likely be the top end, but can't be certain. Just checked- 104.5 is considered time to go to the vet as it's bordering on too high then.
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Post by acodlin on Jun 4, 2013 3:35:58 GMT -5
Thick dark pee sounds like dehydration or kidney issues.
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Post by katt on Jun 4, 2013 5:19:48 GMT -5
With his fever he is probably dehydrated, hence the thick/dark urine. For his breathing do you have a humidifier? If so I would run in in the room during the day or night, if not both. Then give him daily steam baths: turn the shower on HOT at full blast and fill up the bathroom with steam. Let him sit or play in bathroom for 20-30 min in the steam. It should help to clear his lungs a little. The problem you will have is if be is on the ground he will be below most of the steam so you maybe you can put him in his carrier on the bathroom counter or something? Is he coughing at all? Poor thing. I forget what Bandit's original story is; why is he a perpetual sickie? Have you guys considered testing for something like FIP or other immunodeficiency syndromes? If he is getting this sick this often it often sounds to me as if he might have an immune system problem. Another thing, I know they have checked for lumps and bumps but have you had any X-Rays or imaging done recently? Could he have some sort of cancer? Have you considered trying him on Pred?
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Post by acodlin on Jun 5, 2013 16:16:01 GMT -5
How is he doing today?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 9, 2013 13:09:16 GMT -5
Sorry I haven't been on, I've been a bit busy. But thank you for the replies! @katt - The funny thing is, he hasn't really shown any signs you think you would see for pneumonia. He hasn't been coughing, he hasn't been wheezing, he hasn't even had the normal small amount of clear discharge from his nose he's had in the past. The only symptoms he's exhibited is lethargy, obvious pain and discomfort, labored and rapid breathing, inability to walk around, and fever (which I could tell without a thermometer). And some of these symptoms Bandit has had in the past with all of his issues. As for his perpetual sickies - since he was a kit (a bit under 1yo) he has episodes of coughing, labored breathing, lethargy, vomiting, fevers, general malaise, etc. He has a perpetually swollen spleen and lymph nodes. He has unknown (but benign) masses growing on his lymph nodes and organs. About 5 months ago he had a massive internal Strep infection that caused one of his lymph nodes to become a HUGE lime-sized abcess. We've run EVERY test known on Bandit multiple times to include aspirites and biopsies and have yet to figure out what is wrong with him. The best we can come up with is some form of immune-deficiency disorder. I have mentioned the FIP to my vet, but he doesn't think this is likely. We've checked several times for cancer and everything comes back clear. We have tried pred but it had no effect whatsoever. acodlin - The 2 days after his initial vet visit Bandit started feeling much better. He is still on track, but I can tell he still doesn't feel well. He is still eating well though, and he can even run around a little again. We have him on 16 days of Clavamox and then we are going back in for more blood tests and xrays to see if the meds helped. The one unusual thing that was found thru the blood tests was some numbers that were off concerning Bandit's liver. He is possibly anemic, but we aren't sure so the vet said we will check back on that with the next blood test in a couple of weeks. Is there any disorder/disease that includes iron-deficiency in ferrets that anyone knows of???
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Post by Sherry on Jun 9, 2013 16:29:16 GMT -5
Ulcers, or a bleed somewhere. Either of which you'd have caught.
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Post by acodlin on Jun 14, 2013 8:45:18 GMT -5
If his spleen is enlarged it could be holding some of those RBC. If he's just a little low they can give you oral iron, tastes like beef. I had to give Anks that.
I'm glad he's holding his own, I wish I had answers.. I would think he would have cough/discharge and such with pneumonia but I've had patients in the hospital that haven't had any symptoms other than the shortness of breath. It seems crazy that they can't figure out what is going on with the poor guy. Have you tried posting his case on the yahoo forum? I got good feed back from other vets when I posted about Anks and Naobi.
I only had to deal with the one form of FIP and Anks had neurological symptoms along with her decreased appetite and enlarged spleen. Usually they develop this by 18 months. If you really want to rule it out you can have your vet send a tissue sample to MSU. They are the only people who have the test to diagnose it.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 20, 2013 18:08:07 GMT -5
Ok, so we are back from round 2 at the vet and the radiologist seems to think the pneumonia is gone so that much is good, however, it wasn't easy to tell this as there was even LESS lung tissue visible in this set of xrays as compared to the ones even 2 weeks ago. The reason being, supposedly, is that *something* is sitting inside Bandit's thorax and pushing his heart and lungs out in unusual directions. The vet is thinking 1 of 4 possibilities: fat, an enlarged lymph node, an abcess, or a tumor. SOOOO, we are going in yet again next week to either have a CT done (which will have to be done at an ER location) or an ultrasound guided fine needle aspirate (which we have to call a specialist in for by appointment). Unfortunately, my vet went on a mini-vacation for the next half-week and we won't know what we will be doing until next week (nor how much MORE this is going to cost - which sux considering we've already spent $1000 in the past 2 weeks to fix the pneumonia). Also, the heavy wheezing Bandit has been doing is apparently not associated with the pneumonia as he is still doing it, so this *thing* in his thorax is causing all kinds of problems apparently.
So, for my question: Has anyone else ever dealt with a situation like this before? Any ideas about what could be going on here?
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Post by nancyl on Jun 20, 2013 19:24:18 GMT -5
Yes. After 6 weeks and $3500 I still lost him. I opted not to necropsy at that point so I have no idea what the "thing" was. Most likely it was a tumor.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 21, 2013 0:12:42 GMT -5
If you don't mind me asking Nancyl what type of symptoms did you see in your fert? What issues did you deal with? What theories did your vet have? Thank you for the info!!!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2013 2:02:13 GMT -5
So, my vet got back with me and he thought doing the ultrasound guided aspirate would be the best route. We have an appointment for Tuesday afternoon with the specialist (who wasn't easy to get), and my vet will be administering the sedation and watching over Bandit while he is under. It's gonna be pricey, but my vet said the specialist offered to do a full body ultrasound free of charge after he does the aspirate, so that is nice. I'm really nervous about this though. My poor Bandit has been put under sedations SO MANY times this year alone, and the aspirate isn't an easy one to do. My vet thinks it's unlikely anything negative will happen, but it's still scary. And to boot my vet is going out of town after the appointment for the week, so he won't be available if Bandit becomes unwell. I just hope this will give us some kind of answer for SOMETHING.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 29, 2013 4:32:34 GMT -5
I just want to wish you goodluck! It sucks when you don't know what's wrong. I hope the aspirate goes well and everything turns out alright!
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