Trauma And Disease Threaten Ferret Eyes And LivesApril 17, 2009 Mark Burgess, DVM, who practices in Beaverton, Oregon remembers a ferret that was brought into his clinic with both eyes hanging out of its head. "The owners had closed the recliner and not realized that their ferret had its head stuck in there. This popped out both of the ferret's eyes, and the ferret became instantly blind," Dr. Burgess said. The ferret's eyes were swollen and damaged, so the best thing that could be done for it was to remove its eyes and close the area up. "The ferret's hair eventually grew back in and today it looks like it was just born without eyes," Burgess said. "It runs around like normal and does fine." That particular case was rather unusual the way it happened, Burgess said. But eye traumas in general are fairly common occurrences in his practice. "Ferrets are very inquisitive and can get hurt when they're snooping around. Or their eyes might become scratched when two ferrets are rough-housing with each other, or they could have a run-in with a cat," Burgess said. A veterinarian at an exotics practice is also likely to have to treat ferret injuries. …
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Treatments Recommended For Avian Respiratory ProblemsApril 17, 2009"We're seeing much fewer respiratory problems in pet birds today than we did 10 or 15 years ago, and that's primarily due to improved husbandry," said Brian Speer, DVM, Dipl. ABVP, who has a practice in Oakley, Calif. Some of the deadliest respiratory diseases in times past, such as pox, are rarely seen today, Dr. Speer said. But, bacterial and fungal pneumonias, aspergillosis and severe respiratory distress are still common. This, Speer speculated, is in big part caused by an increase in "germ phobia" in our society. "A lot of pet owners are scrubbing their bird's cage daily with very powerful disinfectants," he said. "This can weaken a bird's defense mechanisms and make it susceptible to innocuation with an opportunistic infection." The incidence and types of respiratory disease seen vary depending on geography and whether the birds are kept in aviaries or as pets. "Bird owners in the Midwest or South, where there's higher humidity, are going to have a greater incidence of respiratory disease than bird owners living on the West Coast, where it's drier," said Larry Nemetz, DVM, a birds-only veterinarian in Santa Ana, Calif. Large indoor flocks are at a greater risk for bacterial …
Too Much Vitamin C Worsens Guinea Pig ArthritisApril 17, 2009 High doses of vitamin C increased the severity of spontaneous knee osteoarthritis in guinea pigs, according to a recent study by Duke University Medical Centers. The finding contradicts earlier short-term studies in guinea pigs and an epidemiologic study in humans that suggested vitamin C and its antioxidant properties might protect against osteoarthritis, said Virginia Kraus, M.D., associate professor of medicine at Duke University Medical Center. "It's possible that brief exposure to high levels of vitamin C offers antioxidant effects with a minimum of side effects, while prolonged exposure results in deleterious effects," she said. The researchers fed the guinea pigs low (3 mg per day), medium (30 mg per day) and high (150 mg) doses of vitamin C over eight months. At the end of that period, they found the high dose guinea pigs developed more cartilage damage and had more bony spurs form in their knees than the other groups. In studying the spurs, the researchers found a protein that leads to spur formation and can be activated by vitamin C. Their conclusion, pending additional study in humans, is that people should not supplement their dietary vitamin C levels above the recommended daily …
