Hello ferret friends.  I am proud to introduce my new baby girl Zira.
For any new FML ers I m owned by Pippin 4 yrs. old MF sable male, Merry-2
yrs. old very dark sable Path Valley female, & Zira-12 weeks old cinnamon
w/white chest female.  Although I m not sure of her coloring the vet said
a cinnamon but she has no mask and the insides of her legs & chest are
white.  We live in NE Ohio.  Zira is a bundle of energy and is loads of
fun.  I ve been poking fun at Pippin calling him her nursemaid.  He really
is my gentle giant, letting her dance on his head & bites his ears or back
or anywhere else she can clamp down it s like a goldfish battling a great
white!  He teaches her how to dook & dance and get into trouble.  Merry
usually watches them with a superior look saying I dare you to try that
on me!  Everyone has been getting along wonderfully and we ve been having
a great time but today I got some bad news.
 
I ve just returned from our check up/shots veterinarian visit.  Everyone
had a clean bill of health until Merry s body examination.  The vet found
a lump at the bottom near her abdomen.  So we had her x-rayed.  The first
2 attempts didn t show up anything so then she did a radiology with that
gel on her belly.  The growth didn t show up very well (just a faint
outline) and this was her analysis:
 
Found an irregular soft tissue mass (2 x 2 x 1 cm) caudal (spelling?)
abdomen and then she wrote cranial to header.  My vet recommended putting
Merry under and using a needle taking some cells from the growth to
determine what it was, or to monitor it for 3 weeks and determine whether
we need a biopsy.  She said that it could be an irritation that caused
some swelling near her bladder, maybe a swollen lymph node in an irregular
place, or it could be some tumor hopefully benign.  I made an appt. for
June 22 to have Merry checked again and possibly take the samples with a
needle.  I wanted to get some feedback before I made any decisions and
can make my appt. earlier if need be.  Merry hasn t shown any signs of
being in pain and eats/drinks/poops/plays well.  She does sleep a little
more than Pippin & Zira and she s an independent princess.  I am very
worried about my little girl and would appreciate any advice.
 
Best wishes to all with sick or lost furkids.
Trish ~ Merry, Pippin & baby Zira
[Posted in FML issue 3801]