Dear Mike:
 
>My smallest ferret, Penelope, has had swollen glands on the side of her
>neck for about 10 days and my vet is stumped.  She is exhibiting no signs
>of being ill-no fever, running, eating, playing just like normal.  We had
>the one of the glands asperated and it came back normal-her cbc was normal
>except she is slightly anemic.  Today I went to the Dr. to get her some
>amoxi and when I got home I could see the glands are even bigger.  Is
>there anyone out there who could point me in the right direction here?
 
Close examination of the oral cavity may show a reason for a swollen neck
lymph node - this is generally the area that they drain.  If not, and the
node does not respond to antibiotics within two weeks, I would suggest
surgical biopsy, removal of the node, and submission in toto for
examination.
 
The problem with aspirates is that you are only getting asmall number of
cells.  You may hit an area of a neoplastic node which is not yet affected,
or the node may be replaced by a monomorphic population of cells which all
look relatively normal.  Without being able to look at the loss of
architecture, a pathologists may simply conclude that there is no neoplasm
at all.
 
Generally, marked lymph node enlargements shouldn't be considered normal.
There should be evidence of inflammation, or at least some form of
reaction - something is causeing that lymph node to blow up unexpectely.
 
Hope that gives you some direction...
 
with kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, dVM
[Posted in FML issue 3288]