To Judy:
 
        It sounds to me like you have had bad luck with veterinarians.  I agree,
the story about a liver tumor sounds rather far-fetched, especially if all that
was done was bloodwork and abdominal palpation.  Certainly a radiograph of the
abdomen would be in order, and these days, in most practices, either a
transcutaneous biopsy or abdominal exploration would be recommended to take a
look at the situation more closely.
 
        As I think I have mentioned before, tumors arising in the pancreas are
farily rare - I have seen one in three years.  On the other hand - lymphosarcoma
and occasionally, islet cell tumors may metastasize to the pancreas, but they
rarely if ever make changes in the blood picture indicative of hepatic disease.
What is common however are elevations in the liver functions as a result of a
lack of food intake and mobilization of fat to the liver - this often leads
practitioners to a diagnosis of "hepatitis" or "liver disease" when in fact,
there rarely is.
 
        As far as thyroid is concerned, thyroid functions are different than
those seen in cats.  The normals for thyroid levels in the ferret have been
published, and practitioners who are not familiar with them should not be
treating thyroid disease in ferrets.  The levels are published in the following
article:
 
 Heard, D.J., Collins, B., Chen, D.L., and Coniglario, J. Thyroid and adrenal
function tests in adult male ferrets. Am.J.Vet.Res. 51:32-35, 1990.
 
        The article goes into the varios levels seen during the typical
diagnostic testing protocols used in small animal practice.
 
 
        On another note - I have had ferrets and cats in the same house before,
and never had any problem - the cat hated the ferrets, who teased it
unmercifully, but I never saw any significant damage to either.
 
        Good luck, and keep searching for that elusive "good ferret vet" .
 
 
Bruce Williams
[log in to unmask]
 
[Posted in FML issue 0640]