Dear Gaped Fert Owner,

Hey, it took a little while but I finally got it...Grapefruit (from
Gaped Fert). Let me congratulate you on that name. It's very clever and
I like it, cause it made me think a little bit.

Submitted for surgical removal a large growth on the upper neck a large
hob of several years. The vet required neither fasting nor water
exclusion prior to surgery. The growth was cancer in size comparable to
an avacado and had not invaded any neck muscles, just the skin.

Unfortunately the lab results of the tumor indicated that the vet had
not removed all the "roots" of the tumor. He had not removed sufficient
neck skin.

Some time later the tumor reappeared and quickly became inoperable. It
grew in size to that of an orange and severely limited my big boy's
ability to lift his head off the floor. Shortly thereafter he was
euthanized, the tumor removed, at least most of it, and photographed.
The rate of growth of this follow-on tumor was phenomenally rapid and
has taught me to have any small growth or bump examined and removed
as quickly as possible, both on the ferret and on me too.

On another note, I am conducting an exam of water consumption by
individual ferrets who drink from water bottles only. No bowls, since
accurate measurements are more difficult. However, I noted in your case
Gaped Fert consumes water from a bowl.

Can you measure just how much water he consumes over a given time? Is
any of his food moist, soupy or liquid or is it all dry kibble? Does
he play and/or deposit bits of food in his water bowl?

And a note to all other FML'rs who may be interested: please measure
the water consumption of your ferret(s) individually, and if you could,
please report to me the quantities and basic info on the ferret who's
being measured.

The way I do it is to attach a sticky label to the caged ferret's 28
ounce/100 milliliter water bottle and record the date on the bottle at
each refill. So far I have collected in excess of 80 measurements from
the water bottles and fewer from the bakery cookie jar on the floor and
secreted inside a cardboard box with a little door cut into it. The
latter only for any single free-running ferret in the ferretarium.

All my ferrets receive, for the most part, 12 ounces daily of freshly
cooked meat/veggie soup and I suspect that they will drink less water
than a ferret on a diet of dry kibble.

Frequently in the past year and currently l also record both dry and
wet bulb temperatures in the ferretarium so I have some idea of the
relative humidity during this investigation, since I suspect that both
temperature and humidity may influence thirst.

I sincerely hope that Graped Fert will be OK after his surgery and
blood test.

Edw. Lipinski
Frettchen Freude

[Posted in FML 5651]