My oldest ferret, Shelby, died today (the 6th) on the operating table.  She
was born 7/1997, so lived for nearly 4 years.  I am certainly devastated,
but want to understand what happened.  Last year she got an X-ray which
showed healthy looking tissue inside.  2 weeks ago she had her yearly shots
for canine distemper and rabies, and got a physical and had a nice weight,
was alert and happy and cute as ever.  About 10 days ago she began to
have choking fits.  I assumed they were dry heaves and she might have a
blockage, so gave her hairball ferret remedy, and lots of ferretone, which
seemed to calm her down.  I took her to the vet last week, and she appeared
to be improving, and the vet felt no problems inside, so said wait over the
weekend and see how she was doing.  She continued to cough and I began to
think she had a cold, because she was not having trouble eating, drinking,
or going to the bathroom.  I got her the upper repertory remedy... Anyway.
She began to do worse and worse, and I stayed up with her through every
coughing attack, and took her to the doctor Tuesday.  She was lethargic and
acted like she didn't feel good at all the whole weekend.  The doctor and
myself felt a lump in her tummy, and so he took an X-ray and admitted her.
I gave her one last long hug and visit while the doctor showed me a dark
spot in her tummy and a dark splotch in the bottom of one lung.  This, he
said, explains the choking and very shallow, fast breathing which had
become common place on Tuesday.  He thought she had pneumonia in the lung
from possibly inhaling food during a cough, and possibly had an abscess in
the tummy, not related to the digestive tract.  He decided to try to clear
her lungs with medicine and antibiotics before doing surgery the next
morning to look inside.
 
Well, Wednesday came and they opened her up to find what he thought were
tumors in her stomach, 2 looking like tumor-ovaries to him (she had been
fixed, apparently, so it thought it might have been done wrong) and one
likely in the lung.  They cleaned her up but she arrested and never woke
up.  I have been reading and it seems very strange for this type of serious
problem to come out of nowhere, except I saw some possible cancers which
were not related to ovaries that sneak up on a ferret and show no easy
signs... Is it likely that the doctor mistaked the diseased ovaries for
something like lymph nodes or something else?  I don't know what to think,
and it is too late for Shelby Girl, but I have other ferrets and will
certainly get more, and want to know what I did wrong.  Even if it makes
me hate myself.  I also want to know what she likely had and what I should
have done... perhaps I need a better doctor?  I like this one, but if he
doesn't know enough and proceeds to misdiagnose the rest of my weasels,
well, that is not good.  So... can someone out there help me?  Finally,
can a ferret have a tummy full of tumors and not notice them until one day
when one ruptures or becomes infected?  This is what he thinks happened.
 
Mark H. - Heartbroken.  I feel like I can't breath and this is all just a
nightmare.
[Posted in FML issue 3441]