Dear Lizzi and Fang:
 
>But his little liver had a big cancerous tumor wrapped around it, with
>little tumors starting on his spleen.  We think the original insulinoma
>just spread into his whole body this year.  His left adrenal was enlarged,
>also, but it wouldn't have made any sense to put him through the removal.
 
I am sorry that when you got in there, the news was so bad.
 
However, I would suspect that we are not dealing with an insulinoma in this
case.  To start with, the metastatic potential of insulinoma in ferrets is
very low, and I have never seen one act in this fashion.  Also, his blood
sugar would have bottomed out from a tumor of that size, even with the pred
on board.
 
Did you perchance take a small biopsy to identify the tumor?  Your
description suggests lymphoma more than anything else, and high dose
prednisone might help Fang have a couple of extra months, plus make his
remaining time more enjoyable.  The other possibility is an adrenal
carcinoma, but these generally don't show the pattern of metastasis that
you describe.
 
I'm hoping that Fang's last Christmas is the best ever!
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, dVM
[Posted in FML issue 3272]