Dear ncferretmom:
 
>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.
 
In a case like this, when you have a fast growing neoplasm and you can't
figure out what it is, then you go to another pathologist.  Just like you
do when your practitioner can't diagnose your ferret - you get a second
opinion.  Actually, the majority of the cases I see these days are second
opinions, either submitted by pathologists when they hit a wall, or by
owners looking for a second look.
 
>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=3D 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).
 
That's the classic problem when a diagnosis isn't given - here you are
expecting the worst, and you go from day to day hanging.
 
>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?
 
You know, it depends on the type of tumor - lymphomas break down quickly,
adrenal glands moderately, and smooth muscle tumors extremely slowly.
So I can't really give you an answer.  You try to get her done as soon
as possible - if she dies on Fri. evening, then get her in on Saturday
morning, otherwise first thing Monday.  Certain organs due to their
composition, break down quickly..  The GI tract tends to degrade rapidly
because it has digestive juices in it already.  Musdcle breaks down fairly
slowly, and bone extremely slowly.
 
>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?
 
First off (and again) have him post the animal as soon as humanly possible.
Tissues should go directly into formaldehyde - which stops decomposition
immediately, as it cross-links all the proteins and decomposition can't
proceed.  Then, if you want, you can send the tissue to me - I can
probably figure out what it is in our lab.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 3324]