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Post by miamiferret2 on Feb 29, 2012 23:27:20 GMT -5
a friend of mine is in ferret rescue and he has about 26 ferrets right now (this is down from about 43 that he & his wife had just last year! many lost to lymphomas and abdominal tumors). In late December, he contacted me and told me that his 6 year old ferret, Mickey, had been found to have a large tumor in his belly. The vet told him that, according to the tests, the tumor is malignant. It is also in a place where it is considered inoperable (he has a very ferret-knowledgeable vet). Sadly, the vet told to keep him comfortable and that he he probably has a few months. he messaged me and asked if I knew of anything that he could try. i sent him a bottle of reishi from new chapter organics a while back for another one of his ferrets, so I told him to start Mickey on that right away. I pm'd Jennifer/Mustelidmusk and she told me to refer him to her holistic vet, Dr. McCluggage. I don't think that he actually consulted with Dr. M, but he did buy a few of the products in the "Cancer Therapy" section of www.wellvet.com/products.html#C Since then, has been giving Mickey Super EPA, reishi, and IP6. I believe he has also been using graviola. Mickey had another ultrasound two weeks ago and the vet was very impressed. The tumor has decreased in size! Mickey is still playing and acting like a normal ferret. He is going to try to get a copy of the ultrasounds for comparison.
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Post by Heather on Feb 29, 2012 23:30:03 GMT -5
That's fantastic. ciao
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Post by miamiferret2 on Feb 29, 2012 23:38:02 GMT -5
i think even if it buys him a little more time it is worth it. often times that is all we can hope for with these animals.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 29, 2012 23:45:13 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2012 0:02:41 GMT -5
Dr. Dave (McCluggage) generally recommends a mix of medicinal mushrooms in a product called Power Mushrooms, which is supposed to be more effective than the reishi The Power Mushrooms have a lot of Reishi along with other medicinal mushrooms that are supposed to work even better in combination on cancers than reishi alone. (look under the product section for cancer on wellvet.com for details. As far as I know, the use of Reishi for ferrets started on this website when I gave some to my Tomcihi girl for a "thing" that developed on her gums....I accidentally found that it got rid of mast cell tumors.....then I read that Reishi has anti-histamine properties, which explains why it helps with itching and mast cell tumors which are associated with a histamine increase from adrenal disease. In any event, the mushrooms (even reishi alone) and the IP-6 can affect blood sugar levels - these are medicinal in nature. Please use these medicines with caution -or better yet - with approval from a holistic vet if your ferret has any issues with blood sugar levels. (Dr. Dave will do phone consultations, but he's not cheap - no vets in my area are cheap. But if you have no access to appropriate holistic care and you're dealing with multiple issues, a consultation is your safest bet.) Like I told MiamiFerret, don't thank me- thank Dr. Dave -jennifer
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2012 0:38:12 GMT -5
I was just about to ask where one would get reishi mushrooms as one of my furballs (Leo) seems to have sprouted a mast cell tumour overnight... then I read the part about it affecting blood sugar. Leo has insulinoma.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2012 14:41:21 GMT -5
I have known quite a few ferrets with insulinoma that have used reishi without any trouble. obviously, these are stabilized ferrets that don't have bad cases of insulinoma, and the reishi has been used short term. As always, each case needs to be considered independently. Many of the owners did not notice a change in behavior, so the reishi may not have much effect on blood sugar, if any at all, in many cases
-jennifer.
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Post by miamiferret2 on Mar 1, 2012 14:56:28 GMT -5
trippyferret's ferret Daemon had insulinoma and he used reishi without any problems. also, my friend Anita uses reishi on her insulinomic ferret and he doesn't have a problem. just keep an eye out for it obviously bc every ferret is different. but I have not heard of any issues.
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Post by Heather on Mar 1, 2012 21:13:58 GMT -5
I'm using it with Fun-Go without issue but he's very nicely controlled at the moment. Perhaps, the caution should be considered more with a ferret who is having difficulty regulating their BG ciao
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Post by Deleted on Mar 13, 2012 23:25:54 GMT -5
Oh wow...I wish this thread were here (and I had seen it) last December. I lost a furbaby to a very aggressive cancer- she was put down within 2 weeks of diagnosis. I wonder if this could have helped her. I will try some of these things the next time one of my fluffies comes up with a lump. Do you know if any of these things work for rodents? Rats and mice are VERY cancer prone, the one I lost in december was a sweet little female rat with a Zymbal's gland tumor. It destroyed her all too quickly. The day we lost her she was skinny, (even being hand fed) had a nasty ear infection (the tumor crushed her ear canal, yeast inside) had a giant lump on the side of her head, had malocclusion (from the tumor pushing her jaw- she lived on mush foods that I made her, including clam chowder and ice cream), and her eye died from the tumor growing behind it the day we said goodbye. The dead eye was in danger of falling from the socket, and although she was still happy and active...I could not justify waiting any longer for selfish reasons.
Even slowing the growth of these types of tumors in rats (or even a CHANCE of it) would be incredible.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2012 18:48:29 GMT -5
Oh moonfall, ZGT are soooo sad and fast I lost my 18 month old on 1/1/11 from it. He had a lump appear from nowhere and it got golfball size and burst when I gently squeezed it to try and find out if it was a cyst tumor or abscess. It squirted and stank. I took him to the vet and got him on antibiotics and I cleaned it 3x a day. I took him to be PTS before his script was over. The right side of his face was rotting from the ear canal. Horrible horrible disease. Sent from my SCH-M828C using ProBoards
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Post by Deleted on Mar 15, 2012 1:47:09 GMT -5
It's horrible to watch them die because of those tumors.. I stayed home from school her last five days; she required round-the-clock care. I fed her anything she would eat, and her last meal was ice cream. She even slept in my bed curled up beside me because she got cold. I miss my little girl a lot, but putting her to sleep was the right thing for her- I just wish it never had to happen.
I'm sorry you lost your sweet one..they do come up so quickly. Rosebud's tumor popped up overnight and had already displaced her jaw, and that same day when we were at the vet he said it had grown into the bones of her skull and jaw. D: The vet office was all sad/crying when the time came for us to say goodbye to her.
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