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Post by Alliemegan on Apr 23, 2009 14:54:01 GMT -5
This morning Merry had his first insulinomic crash... and he scared the hell out of us. I woke him up for breakfast and he seemed a little groggy, which he usually is in the morning. But he got up and ran to the living room so I just left him. I went to warm up his chicken and 5 minutes later he's flat on the living room floor, couldn't hold his head up. We managed to get some chicken into him and gave him his pred but he just looked worse and worse over 15 min. I tried the honey thing but he's just not coming around so we ran him to the vet, who's about 30 min away. That was the longest cab ride ever... Dr. Mike wasn't in yet when we arrived but one of the techs knows Merry so we started dextrose right away. And Merry bounced back before Dr, Mike even came in. He's staying at the clinic for the rest of the day but he looks good when we left him. We need to adjust his meds big time. I'm just feeling immensely guilty that we didn't see the signs that Mer's meds needed adjustment. With Poley being so sick, we kinda let the blood glucose testing on Merry slide. He'd probably been feeling crappy for the last couple of weeks but we just didn't notice.... <sigh> I remember reading once a ferret has a crash, he'll be more susceptible to future crashes. Just called the clinic and the little man seems to be back to his old self. We're going to pick him up after work and love him up. Will check in with you later!
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Post by Heather on Apr 24, 2009 0:25:03 GMT -5
Oh, poor Merry. It's a good thing that you were home and there with him. Good work. I will light a healing candle for Merry. He should be feeling much better once his meds start regulating his blood sugar. He didn't go into convulsions, so you're one up on that. Once you get a handle on his blood sugar you will be much better able to deal with the fluctuations. Don't beat yourself up. Unfortunately, when we're working on one (especially when we're working so hard) one develops tunnel vision and we don't see what's going on around. Merry was up and about, you weren't looking for the more subtle signs that he was feeling under the weather. Let me know how it goes. ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on Apr 24, 2009 8:49:12 GMT -5
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Post by Heather on Apr 24, 2009 23:51:33 GMT -5
It is difficult dealing with the known factor (cancer) but all you can do is the best you can. It's all Merry expects too . They are being little poops....my guys aren't fond of old meat soupy either The only thing you can do at this point is rely on the kibbles to hold him over until you get home to offer him the rest of his hobbitses meals Unfortunately, kibbles may have to be used to tie him over until you get home. It was one of the problems that I used to run into with Zena...the bonus that I had with her was she would eat whole meats...but every now and then she would miss her meal...sleep through it. Then when she woke up she would be nauseaus because the insulinomas was taking over. She would roll over and go back to sleep and then I would come home to a very sick fuzzy I eventually got so I fed her when she got up (or I woke her up) and then fed her again when I got home. That was usually enough ... for her. In the end it wasn't the insulinoma but a brain tumour that beat me and took her life. I so hope that you get your place, has if firmed up yet? ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on Apr 25, 2009 8:26:19 GMT -5
We tried out new feeding schedule for Merry yesterday and it was a bit overwhelming. We got up at 7am to give him his first breakfast and 2nd breakfast at around 9, just before I left for work. Hubby got home at around 4pm to give him a snack, his real dinner at 8 and a snack before bed at 11. I think we might be overdoing it coz Mer simply can't eat that much! We only insisted he eats the whole portion at pred time, otherwise he can just eat as much as he wants. We tested his BG last night (did I mention I'm OCD when it comes to my boys?? ) and it was 4.5mmol/L, which was amazing. I don't think he'd even had it over 3 since he was diagnosed... I know what you mean when they just sleep through hypoglycemic stretches and not even bother to get up and feed themselves. That's my biggest worry. I'd seen Merry eating kibbles a few times but most days I just wake him up for his chicken. I'm not too happy with the fact that he'll have to tied himself over during the day with kibbles but unfortunately that's the best we can do for now (until he'd decided that whole meat doesn't suck? ) He likes EVO, which is pretty good in terms of quality protein and no-grains. I'd read about the Wysong Archetypal but I don't seem to see it in pet supplies store here. Gotta do a little more investigation... We finally got the home inspection and mortgages sorted out so the house is ours!! Yay!! The closing date is in late June so it will be a while before we can move in. The backyard is fenced-in and there's a little grassy dog run. But I wouldn't even dream of letting the boys out by themselves. The place needs to be ferret-proofed big time but we're really excited. it's a beautiful day out and hubby and I are both fighting off a spring cold... I guess the stress in the past month has caught up with us. We're probably just going to spend a quiet day at home. Talk to you late!
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Post by Heather on Apr 25, 2009 20:52:23 GMT -5
Congratulations. I'm so happy for you. Your new home. You will have so much fun. It's so exciting, you've been trying so hard. I found that feeding Zena 3 times a day after her first crash was about the most I could get her to eat. I found that if I pushed her too hard she would eat smaller and smaller amounts....same with Aremis. So I would feed her and Aremis similar. I would top her up if I knew I was going to be gone through lunch or too late. I found that I really had to think about my times. For him it was feeding enough so that he would be able to have his pred, which upset his tummy. Enjoy your beautiful weekend and get rid of you cold....you have my sympathies on that part....take care of yourself, my spring cold became pneumonia, so make sure you rest up and get feeling better. Another point to keep in mind (as I seem to passed this on to a couple of my furbabies) to look after your little ones too ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on Apr 29, 2009 20:01:55 GMT -5
Man, it sucks being sick... I hope your pneumonia had gotten better. I think I'm getting an infection... my ears and my throat are hurting like mad. And you're right, I better not give the cooties to the kids. Merry went to the vet today for a follow up after his hypoglycemic crash last week. We'd been testing his BG and it's been over 4mmol/L. Since he's already on such high dose of pred, we want to leave some room for the dosage to go up if necessary. So we're going to slightly scale back his pred to maintain his BG between 3.5-4mmol/L. What's more worrying is that he'd developed this weird, sideway walk a few days after his crash. It's like he'd lost his coordination and his 4 legs are confusing him. We brought it up with Dr. Mike and he said it might go away as his body slowly recovers from the crash, or he might have suffer some neurological damage, even he didn't really go into seizure. I'm hoping it's the former... my poor little guy. Everyone seems to be liking the new feeding schedule. Well, everyone except Gadget. We're watching his weight so we're trying to give him smaller portions. But he looks so unsatisfied after each small meal, not knowing that there's another one coming in 2-3 hours. You can see in his eyes "mommy... I'm still hungry...." (he would probably pout too if he had lips ) I would so love to have some vacation time now but I gotta save them up for our big move in June.... can't wait! talk to you soon!
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Post by Heather on Apr 30, 2009 0:18:18 GMT -5
I can't really help you with knowledge about Merry's new symptom except offer a little hope. Mayhem, one night suffered a stroke. I spent the night with him on my chest, him barely breathing. I knew there was nothing medical I could do for him, so we spent the night waiting, together. At about 4 am he decided he wanted to join his friends so I put back in the cage. I truly didn't know what had happened to him (this would come later after the vet had seen him). In the morning his little head poked out of the sheets to greet me. Eyes so bright. Fantastic....then I saw my little boy walk...he couldn't . He staggered and dragged his back legs behind him. He had such spirit and he kept trying. Day by day we saw improvements. One day my son yelled that Mayhem was running....well....he was sort of. His back end never really was able to coordinate with his front but he got around in his own fashion and he kept up and played with the business, he just tired faster. He did really well too, until his heart betrayed him and started putting on more and more weight until it was no longer fair to allow him to go on fighting. He weighed more than 5.5 lbs and the strain that it was putting on him was horrific. He was drowing. I miss him but not more than my son who considered him his best friend. The thing is the brain is a wonderful thing, Merry may yet retrain his brain to get his legs to coordinate. Poor Gadget, he will learn to adjust to the new feeding schedules and amounts. He has to loose weight? What if he wandered a little more....with Mayhem my son used to play the towel game with him (he had a tendency to lean toward the rather plump ferret, I now know it was his heart condition) and no amount of dieting was going to help him. I'm sure Gadget could pout very well Give the furbabies a big hug from me and a special belly skritch to Gadget and tell him that his belly is really full and he doesn't need anymore foods Have fun getting ready for your move. ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on May 1, 2009 18:23:17 GMT -5
You won't believe this -- our compounding pharmacy screwed up and we got a bad batch of pred for Merry. It was looking funny when I got it home (more cloudy than usual) and I pointed it out to my hubby. He thought I was being paranoid and didn't believe me. We didn't start using this new bottle until Sunday night and there's some insoluble chunks on the bottom, so I just stirred it up with a skewer. But it felt sticky. and gummy, not what I'd associate with crushed up pills. so I didn't give it to Merry and crushed up some leftover pred pills we had from before and gave that to him instead. Hubby called up the pharmacy on Monday morning but they reassured him that it was made the same way as before it should be fine. So we started Mer on that new bottle. The next day, he started walking weird. I started suspecting the new pred again and Hubby thought I'd totally lost my mind. We took Mer to the vet on Wednesday, wrecking our brains trying to figure out what's going on. Not until last night when we tested Merry's BG last night we realized the problem -- it was 2.7mmol/L, way too low compared to just a few days ago. I took a skewer to the bottle again and I fished out 4 blobs of yellow, sticky guck, each the size of a wad of chewing gum!!! I don't know what that stuff is but if it was pred, then Merry was not getting any into his belly!!! No wonder he was acting weird! I called up the pharmacy myself this morning and explained the whole situation. The receptionist kept telling me that their worksheet said it was done right... Man, I was PISSED OFF! I don't care what your worksheet, it was not right and you need to do it again!!!! She's not happy but she agreed to order a new batch for me. We brought back the gunky bottle to the pharmacy and actually got to talk to the pharmacist. He looked at it and agreed that it was definitely NOT right! He took the bottle back and promised to investigate what went wrong. I also asked for extra pred pills just in case something like that happens again. The pharmacist totally understand and was so nice he even milled it up to a fine powder for me. We gave Mer this new pred and hopefully by morning his BG will come back up... I was really mad when no one believed my instinct, both as a chemist and as a ferret-mom, that something is not right with this bottle of pred. Especially my hubby, coz he's a chemist too, he should know better. I have to say I feel pretty vindicated but unfortunately my baby had to pay the price... Merry must be feeling crappy for the last few days when he's not getting enough pred in his system.... I just hope that there isn't any permanent damage or I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Will keep you posted on how the little man is doing. Have a nice weekend!
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Post by Heather on May 2, 2009 0:35:45 GMT -5
Ohhhh crap....stick to your guns girl...when it comes to a momma's instincts don't mess with them. You did good by Merry. Congratulations, for sticking up to everyone for Merry. He probably is feeling crappy but it shouldn't be too bad....he will start feeling better as soon as he gets enough of the pred back into his system. Let me know how he does. Have a good weekend with your furbabies. ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on May 2, 2009 13:38:32 GMT -5
Hubby got up before I did this morning to feed the kids and he was yelling for me to get up -- Merry was running down the hallway... NO LIMPING! He was doing his happy little hops and wrestling with Gadget, which he hadn't done in the last little while. I was really relieved to see him feeling better and glad that the new pred seems to be working. However, when we tested his BG, it was still pretty low at 2.4mmol/L. I' m not really sure what's going on - his BG and his behaviour are polar opposites. Hopefully that's just because he'd been deprived of pred for the last few days and it takes a while to build back up. I'm cautiously optimistic about Mer's improvement. Will probably test his BG again tonight just to see and give the vet a call on Monday morning. How's your pnemonia? Hope you and the business are feeling better. I think my little cold might have developed into bronchitis. I'll have to admit that I need a break and take some time off next week. Just to recoup and hang out with the kids... and I desperately need a haircut! Have a good weekend!
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Post by Heather on May 2, 2009 16:09:27 GMT -5
Well obviously Merry's feeling better. No limping either?? That is so fantastic. I will be totally honest, as far as keeping track of their blood glucose levels, I'm a total washout....I've never had to go there. Perhaps, how he feels is going to be better before it actually reads on the meter...but that doesn't make sense because then the meters are reacting after the fact...which isn't good It means they're lagging behind a possible crash....I would call the vet and find out if you find the levels are still really low. Hopefully, once the pred starts regulating his BG again that you will see an upswing. I think I'm on the mend, I don't feel sick anymore .... just totally exhausted. I do nothing but sleep. I woke up to find myself sharing bed space with Napoleon and Loki this afternoon You take care of yourself, take that time off that you need. I tried to work through it and look where it got me Let me know Merry's doing. ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on May 5, 2009 19:12:51 GMT -5
Sorry we disappeared over the weekend. Work had been hell and I actually had to work thru the weekend Hubby was taking care of the boys but I just didn't have time to update... Sorry! Merry had been doing well. He's bright and active but his BG is still on the low side despite the increase dosage of pred. Gonna give our vet a call tomorrow and see if he has any idea what's going on. We got some ground lamb on the weekend and we tried to sneak it into the chicken... but the boys wouldn't be fool!! They're all looking accusingly at us "What are you trying to pass this off as, woman? Give us the usual stuff!" I guess we had it easy with the pork, which they still enjoy. Got an appointment with my acupuncturist tomorrow. Hopefully she can help clear up this nasty cough.... tak to you soon!
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Post by Heather on May 6, 2009 0:23:57 GMT -5
It's awful having to work the weekends but hey it happens I'm glad that Merry's feeling better but like you I wish his bg would come up a bit. Try sneaking in even less amounts of lamb. I call it trace amounts when you first start. Less that a tsp. You really don't want them to notice. You then increase by trace amounts. Sometimes you have to offer the spoon thing again but usually if you do it lightly enough they won't notice it from their regular meal. Lamb is a bit richer but it shouldn't give them much problem...try sneaking goat by I hope you appt with the accupuncturist goes well and you can get rid of your cough....it can be so annoying..I know. I also hope that you can get some answers regarding Merry's low BG....that should have stabalized by now. Let me know how it goes. I will check in with you tomorrow ciao
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Post by Alliemegan on May 7, 2009 21:15:00 GMT -5
Haaaaay.... what the heck?? I just noticed that my post from last night didin't register!! That sucks... Anyhow, Merry has been doing well, BG seems to be slowly coming back up. Left a message for our vet but haven't heard back from him yet. The little guy has been sleeping a lot... kinda worry about him/ Gadget seems to be having another bout of hairball trouble. He was dry coughing so loud last night he actually woke me up. We'd been giving him ferretlax and extra pumpkin in the last 24 hours. He seems to be active, eating well and belly doesn't seem to be tender when I was feeling around. But his poops are still skinny and mucousy. If he doesn't produce a nice fat poop soon, we'll have to bring him in for an x-ray. You ccan never be too careful with a backed up ferret. Can't wait til the weekend. It's the first one neither hubby nor I have to work for the last little while. I'm going to sleep in... check in with you soon!
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