Dr. Williams, I am posting this to the list as there have been several
people lately who have mentioned a fast growing tumor that appeared
suddenly.  My 5= year old MF sable, Li'l Girl, joined my family as a kit.
She has always been extremely low-key, sleeping most of the day.  We
referred to her as the "Princess" since she first joined us, as she loves
to sleep in silk and is content to get up and eat, escape, and return to
her nap.  Typically, although her cagemate (Smokey) was up 20 hours and
asleep 4, she was up 4 hours and asleep 20!
 
Li'l Girl was extremely healthy until 1998 when both she and Smokey
contracted something that had all the symptoms of ECE.  We overcame that
and both regained their weight to their pre-illness range.  Her weight has
remained extremely stable all her life (1.8-2.1#), with the exception of
this illness.  In Oct.  1999 Smokey died of adrenal disease.  Following
that, LG began to exhibit symptoms similar to those of cardiomyopathy.
She was treated symptomatically with Lasix and/or Aminophylline over the
holidays and in February 2000, an ultrasound and x-rays were obtained.
Somehow she seemed to completely recover and was apparently healthy
following this.  In late June (2000) I felt what seemed to be a lump
in her abdomen and took her to the vet.  An ultrasound was obtained which
indicated a mass in the vicinity of the right adrenal gland with a second,
smaller mass adjacent to the first.  We scheduled her for surgery,
expecting it to be adrenal disease, even though she never displayed one
conventional symptom of the disease.  It is of interest to note that she
did not regrow her hair from the surgery until Dec., when it began to
regrow, and that she lost the hair on her tail about Oct.  she began to
show some sexual symptoms about January, but has never been aggressive.
 
Surgery revealed a large tumor encompassing the right adrenal gland, part
of the right kidney, encroaching on the vena cava and a secondary tumor in
the lymph node more medial to the first.  The rest of the abdomen appeared
clear, but the tumor was so large and vascular that we opted not to do
the surgery (vet gave < 50-50 chance of survival).  He tried to get some
biopsies, but said the reports were inconclusive as to type of tumor, but
it was benign.  I was told she probably didn't have much time left and to
love her and keep her comfortable.  Well, here we are, more than 6= months
later and she is really starting to show some signs of deterioration.  I
know we don't have much longer and have arranged with a local vet to do a
post-mortem here if circumstances call for that (my regular ferret vet is
2 hours away).
 
Remember, typically she weighs 1.8-1.9, her maximum weight has been 2.1#.
Last week her weight was 2.6#, meaning the tumor weighs at least = lb.,
probably closer to a pound as I am sure she has lost some of her natural
weight as well.  Now, as I know we are getting close to the end, I have to
ask some hard questions.  My vet has requested that the tumor be removed
upon her death, and I hope that what we have experienced may help some
other ferrets.  So,
 
1. If she dies on a weekend, or at night, I know she needs to be
refrigerated.  Considering the size of the tumor, how long can we do
this without it becoming degraded or useless?
 
2. Is there any special preparation or handling that will help this be
more useful to my vet in determining what this is and how to better help
other ferrets?
 
It is cathartic to me to bury my pets as soon as possible after death, but
I want to be able to help others if possible.  So, since I know that I will
be rather disturbed at the time of loss, please help me know exactly what I
need to know to help preserve as best as possible anything that will help
someone else.  I have probably forgotten to ask something, or may not know
some questions to ask.  Hopefully this will also help someone else who
doesn't know what to when the time comes.
 
Thank you so much.
[Posted in FML issue 3323]