Dear Ferret Folks-

I know people who shouldn't *have* this guinea pig. I can't control
them. I am only the messenger, please don't flame me. I've done what
I can for the poor little creature, but I don't know much about
GP's.Honestly, I don't even much *like* GP's. Hopefully one of you out
there is a GP person. Tribble is almost three. About a year ago her
people told me "Tribble has cancer." I asked them how they knew. "One
of her nipples swelled up really tight, and when we squeezed it blood
and pus came out." I asked about the vet. No vet visits then, and none
will be in Tribble's future. Like I said, they shouldn't have this GP.

I figured Tribble was going to die after hearing that story. Well, she
didn't. She seemed just fine after the ugly stuff was squeezed from
her nipple. And then, weeks later her nipple swelled again. Her people
decided to express what was inside with big squeezes. Her people say
that during the squeezes Tribble "died on the table." Her little heart
stopped beating, she stopped breathing. One of her people gave her
mouth to snout and she started breathing again. My guess is that
actually, Tribble did not go into full cardiac and respiratory arrest,
she passed out cold from A) Terror B) Pain or C) Both. To add insult to
injury, she came out of her swoon with a huge primate trying to inflate
her. Why she didn't bite the primate I'll never know. She was surely
entitled.

I heard this story and I was, shall we say, not happy. I suggested the
vet again. They said she didn't need a vet as "She has cancer and she's
going to die." I told them that she didn't have cancer. If she had
cancer she would have gotten sicker and sicker and sicker, she wouldn't
have gotten better all on her own. It doesn't work that way. Probably
something was wrong with Tribble's nipple/mammary gland/sebacous cyst.
(This was my best guess.) I suggested that when her nipple gets really
distended, let her spend fifteen or twenty minutes walking around in a
bathtub with about four inches of very warm sudsy water in the bottom
of it. That has been working well. The warm water allows the little
breast to release its burden of blood and pus on its own, without a
squeeze. No more dramatic snout to mouth scenes, or painful squeezes.
The discharge is over in about a day. Then she is fine for weeks, until
the swelling begins again.

I asked to hold Tribble today and she looks quite well. Good coat,
shiny eyes, sniffy little nose, good muscle tone and balance. She
scrambles around well. No masses I could feel in her belly.I am told
her appetite is good. She is *not* dying of cancer. But her nipple is
distending again. It's always the same one. Does anyone recognize her
symptoms? I've managed to improve the quality of her life with the warm
baths, but I don't know what her *problem* is, aside from her people.
If I can do more for Tribble, I would like to. Any advice short of
"sneak into her house and steal her" would be appreciated.

Alexandra in MA

[Posted in FML 5570]