© 03.02.2023 - Gisela Henke
Leukose
Leucosis therapy of ferrets
The
following
report
describes
my
experience
in
an
unconventional
leucosis
therapie
of
ferrets.
Meanwhile,
I
have
gained
a
certain
routine
with
this
particular
therapy.
Some
other
veterinarians
have
also
used
this
therapy
successfully.
The
vaccine
we
used
in
the
beginning
is
no
more
available
on
the
market.
I
have
been
testing
a
newly
developed
vaccine
of
this
company
and
a
feline
leucosis
vaccine
of
another
pharmaceutical
company
-
so
far
successfully.
Last
year,
I
became
deeply
involved
in
the
subject
of
treating
ferrets
suffering
from
leucosis.
I
would
like
to
restrict
this
report
to
the
phenotype
of
this
disease
showing
thickened
corporal
lymph
nodes.
Strictly
speaking, the term “lymphomas” should be used in this context.
In
March
1998,
I
found
myself
confronted
with
this
disease,
when
one
of
my
ferrets,
„Kimba“,
a
five
year
old
gib
(neutered)
suddenly
lost
weight
and
showed
less
activity
than
usual.
During
his
clinical
examination
I
only
found
a
thickened
left
lymph
node
mandibularis
(bean
size).
To
begin
with,
I
treated
him
with
cortisone
and
antibiotics,
but
during
the
follwoing
4
weeks
he
lost
again
100
g
of
weight.
A
blood
examination
on
April,
9th
showed
slightly
increased
liver
values
(GOT
54,6
u/l
,
GPT
61,9
u/l)
and
a
badly
increased
alcaline
phosphatasis
of
598.
The
number of leucocytes (18,7 G/l) was much too high.
Standard values for ferrets:
GPT to 45 u/l
GOT to 4o u/l
ALP to 65 u/l
leucocytes 4-6,5 G/l
Consequently, there was every reason to believe that Kimba suffered from leucosis.
The other nine ferrets of the group did not show any striking symptoms during their clinical check.
Therapeutical
ways
of
treating
lymphomes
of
ferrets
are
regular
cortisone
and
antibiotic
doses
or
a
paramunisation.
Thus,
some
ferrets
with
swallen
external
corporal
lymph
nodes
could
be
stabilized
with
doses
of
flumethasone
(Acutol®)
over
a
period
of
several
months.
Sometimes
I
tried
to
operate
ferrets
with
solitaire
lymph
node
growth,
especially
the
lymph
node
mandibularis,
when
it
had
already
affected
breathing.
Only
two
times
this
operation
was
completed
successfully.
The
other
ferrets
had
to
be
euthanasized
during
the
operation
because of an infiltrative growth.
Ferrets
younger
than
one
year
show
a
rapid
progress
of
leucosis
which
goes
along
with
high
temperature.
This
fever
cannot
be
controlled
by
antibiotics.
Unfortunately,
most
of
the
internal
corporal
lymph
nodes
are
affected
and,
additional
symptoms,
such
as
dyspnea,
inappetence
und
diarrhoea
occur.
The
symptomatic
therapy
showed
no
results
and
we
had
to
put
them
at
rest.
Only
then
pathologists
speak
about
leucosis
suspects
or
leucotic
changes.
Leucosis
of
ferrets
has
often
occured
in
connection
with
cats
that
suffered
from
leucosis.
In
most
of
these
cases
I
recommended
to
vaccinate
the
healthy
mates
against
leucosis.
For
financial
reasons
this,
of
course,
may
be
impracticable
with
large
numbers
of
ferrets.
Usually,
only
individual
members
of
a
group
are
affected. All ferrets have tolerated the vaccinations against leucosis without any complications.
The ferret owner can be saved the cat specific leucosis test, as it does not show any relevant results.
I
do
not
know
the
infection
source
of
my
gib
„Kimba“.
Before
the
age
of
12
weeks,
he
must
have
had
contact
with
leucosis
positive
cats
at
the
breeders
home,
course
my
own
cats
have
been
tested
as
kittens
and
vaccinated
at
regular
intervalls.
I
rejected
to
use
any
of
these
mentioned
therapies
for
„Kimba“.
Therefore,
against
the
rules,
I
decided
to
vaccinate
him
against
leucosis.
It
goes
without
saying
that
I
would
never
have
taken
the
risk
of
vaccinating
a
sick
ferret
if
it
had
not
been
my
own.
Already
14
days
after
the
first
vaccination
the
lymph
node
started
shrinking.
Two
weeks
later
„Kimba“
received
his
second
vaccination.
Meanwhile
he
had
gained
100
g
of
weight
and
started
playing
again.
An
examination
of
his
blood
at
the
end
of
May
showed
an
evident
decline
of
the leucocytes to 6,7 G/l.
On
May,
23th
1998,
when
I
met
ferret
„Tobi“,
a
five
year
old
sable
gib
(neutered),
with
thickened
lymph
nodes
in
my
consultation
hour,
I
told
his
owner
about
the
promising
results
I
had
achieved
with
„Kimba“.
Thus
she
agreed
with a blood examination. „Tobis“ leucocytes amounted to 10, 7 G/l. After that „Tobi“ had been vaccinated twice.
The
second
bloodletting
6
weeks
after
the
second
vaccination
showed
a
clear
improvement
with
5,9
G/l.
But
only
in
November
1998
the
swollen
lymph
nodes
had
receded.
Now
„Tobi“
is
enjoying
life
and
having
fun
with
his
three mates.
Till
the
end
of
1998
I
had
treated
seven
other
ferrets
with
thickened
corporal
lymph
nodes.
Totally,
I
treated
nine
ferrets, only three of them were females.
There
are
three
other
ferrets
I
would
like
to
point
out:
Two
of
them
suffered
from
chronic
skin
changes,
eosinophile
granulomas,
dry,
chap,
red
skin
spots
which
can
only
be
eased
by
cortisone.
14
days
after
the
first
vaccination
all
these
spots
had
healed.
The
third
ferret
I
would
like
to
talk
about
was
a
7,5
year
old
sprite
with
an
additional
cardiac
insufficience.
Her
lymph
nodes
mandibulares
were
of
plum
size,
so
that
she
did
not
permit
us
to
fix
her
for
bloodletting.
That
is
why
we
decided
to
do
without
a
little
blood
count.
Because
this
sprite
had
already been treated unsuccessfully, I persuaded her owner to make a vaccination.
Kimba
Tobi
Merlin
Blacky
Leukos
18.7 // 6.7
10.7 // 5.9
5.84 // 4.77
9.o6 // 6.22 G/l
Ery
11.7 // 9.4
9.44 // 12.42
11.31//11.37
10.22 // 10.34 T/l
Hb
19.4 // 15.9
17.9 // 19.2
19.1 // 18.8
15.9 // 15.3 g/dl
Ht
61 // 48
48 // 56
50 // 53
48 // 47 %
Thromb
151 // 452
43 // 320
468 // 227
329 // 134 G/l
Wilma
Gismo
Bambam
Fienchen
Leukos
6.25 // 5,0
7,57 // 7.2
5.2 // 6,07
5.53 // 6,01
Ery
9.66 // 8,17
11,83//11,47
8.49 // 10,29
10,45 // 10,49
Hb
13.8 // 10,7
18,9 // 18,1
17.4 // 17,8
16,3 // 18,3
Ht
37 // 37,7
51 // 54
42 // 35
47 // 37
Thromb
287 // 163
124 // 362
57 // 370
336 // 230
[Images]
In
Dezember
2001
two
ferrets
of
the
first
vaccination
series
were
still
alive.
None
of
the
others
had
to
be
euthanasized
because
of
leucosis.
Now
this
vaccination
of
ferrets
with
thickened
corporal
nodes
has
become
routine treatment in my consulting hours.
This
vaccination
has
never
caused
a
deterioration
of
the
clinical
symptoms.
Therefore,
the
vaccination
of
ferrets
suffering
from
leucosis
can
be
considered
as
an
effective
and
recommendable
alternative
of
therapying
leucosis.
Copyright: by Gisela Henke
This report is only to be published at www.frettchendoc.de.
The Copyright is part of the text and must not be deleted.
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