My boyfriend and I have a 7 year old ferret named DJ who has lymphosarcoma
with an incredibly fast growing tumor.  It has only been two months since
the tumor was found and one month since it was diagnosed as lymphosarcoma
and already the tumor is about 2 inches long from what I can feel.  We were
going to have the tumor removed when it was first found because she was
still doing very well but I went out of town for 1 week and when I came
back she had already become so weak that I didn't think she would survive
a surgery, that was when she was diagnosed with lymphosarcoma.
 
At this point she is very weak, bone thin, and she will walk a few steps
and then lay down for a little while, and do this repeatedly until she gets
to where she wants to be.  She is still alert most of the time when she is
awake and she eats a small amount of kibble on her own but also has to rest
when she is doing that.  We are feeding her a gruel of kibble and Ensure
every 6 hours and giving her a high dose of prednisolone twice a day which
I have not noticed any improvement from.  I have not had a ferret with this
illness before and have some questions that I have not found answers to on
any of the medical sites.
 
Does anyone know of a web site that offers explanations on what happens
to the ferrets as they going through different stages of the disease?  Or
anyone with personal experience could be of help to me too.  I can only
find information on symptoms and how to diagnose different diseases,
nothing on what happens to them as they are going through the illness.  I
know that ferrets usually live up to 6 months after being diagnosed but to
me it seems that after these two months she is close to death.  Not having
experienced this before I am having a hard time deciding how far into the
illness she is and whether or not we should be thinking of helping her to
pass.  I know people say you will know when the time comes, and We've had
to make the decision once before, but if I knew more about what she is
going through it may help me to know when the right time is before she
experiences too much pain.
 
I would appreciate any thoughts on this from anyone who has had a ferret
with this disease.  Thanks.
 
Michelle
Crew of 8
[Posted in FML issue 3289]