Can some of you who have had ferrets diagnosed with lymphoma please write
to me and tell me what you have done as far as treatment and how long the
ferret with lymphoma has maintained a good quality of life?
 
We took our four ferrets in for shots yesterday and the vet found a large
intestinal mass in Kami.  Today they aspirated it and subsequently removed
it.  It was about the size of a hard boiled egg.  It was also kind of
brownish red (but I only saw it after it had been in fixative for a few
hours).  They also found two other smaller masses.  The vet seems to think
that it was a lymph node and the fact that there were 3 of them makes him
think that it is malignant.  We are sending the mass to Cornell for biopsy,
but it will be a week before we know the results.
 
So Kami is home now and groggy from anesthesia.  We never noticed any
symptoms.  She has been playful, had good appetite, good poopies.  I am
devistated.  Should we try chemotherapies, which ones, I don't think we
want to go the radiation route.  I will, or course, talk more to the vet
about this when the biopsy comes back, but any suggestions would be greatly
appreciated.
 
Also I read on the FAQs that lymphomas are sometimes clustered in groups
of ferrets, leading some to think the cause is viral.  Can anyone tell
me anything encouraging that will make me not so worried that all of my
ferrets are going to have to go through this horrible thing and that will
let me hope that Kami will have some kind of quality of life if it is
lymphoma?
 
Thanks,
Leigh
[Posted in FML issue 3138]