I have learned over and over again that we have never "seen it all",
no matter how many years experience we have. I have had two rare
experiences with my ferrets over the last month.

The first was a mesenteric (intestines) torsion, about a month ago.
We have all heard of abdominal torsions in dogs (and cattle), but
intestinal torsions are not so common. My vet had never seen either
type in a ferret before. It happened so quickly and we have no idea
what could have caused it. The ferret became very lethargic, so I
called my vet clinic to have the overnight tech pull his records to see
what his BG had been a few days prior. The notes said it was 70 but
that it was not a reliable reading. So, I ran him to my vet clinic to
get a quick BG check. Little did I know what was about to happen. We
got there and his BG was 107. In the meantime, one of the other vets
came in for an emergency, and we watched as the ferret continued to go
downhill and was becoming more and more in pain. His temp was dropping
also. Dr. M, called my primary ferret vet at home. He said that he had
never seen a torsion in a ferret but that was the only thing it could
possibly be. He recommended immediate emergency surgery. I was in the
back hospital area the entire time, so was sitting just outside the
surgery. Within a couple of minutes after starting, she came to get me.
His intestines had twisted in three different places and were already
black/dead. It was very ugly looking. There was no saving him so we
euthanized immediately. A quick trip to get a BG check turned into a
major drama, but I realized it all happened exactly as it should have.
Had I not taken him in when I did, he would have been in excruciating
pain and I likely would have been making a trip in the middle of the
night. Don't fight your instincts.

The second was a chyle leak and was just this past week. Circumstances
led us to do an exploratory on one of my ferrets. It all started out
because he had a nasty growth near the tip of his tail (not a chordoma
or a MCT). My vet had planned to do a quickie removal the week before,
but on examination decided there was a whole bunch wrong so we
rescheduled to do an exploratory. This was mostly because his BG was 40
(it has never been higher than that in all the months I have had him,
despite regular feedings and medications), and a mass that had been
felt a few months prior had increased in size. A surgery was attempted
in May but he "died" on the table within about two minutes, before the
incision was made, so he was revived and the surgery was cancelled.
This time, my vet felt we had to try again because in addition to the
tail growth and the abdominal mass, he was feeling squishy. So, the
surgery was done, using a mask this time instead of intubation. He
removed his left adrenal, two large pancratic tumors, took a biopsy
from the mass in the abdomen (unable to remove), and removed the growth
from his tail. The right adrenal needed removing also but there was no
time as his temp dropped dangerously low. The weird thing that was
found was a chyle leak, again something my vet had never seen in a
ferret. My vet described it as looking like milk with blood in it.
Chyle is normal and is composed of lymph and emulsified fats, or free
fatty acids. It is formed in the small intestines during digestion.
What's not normal is for it to be leaking into the abdominal cavity.
First on the list of causes is lymphoma. So now we have a mass + chyle
leak = likely lymphoma. All that was there was removed. We will check
again in two weeks to see if any more has leaked. If it has reoccurred,
cytology will likely be done, as well as pathology on the biopsy. If
we are pretty certain it is lymphoma, I will probably just go to
supportive care. Unfortunately, he is not recovering very quickly.
After five days, he is still very weak and can only take a step or two
at the time. I have increased his pred again (after beginning to wean
him off) to see if that will help any. If it's lymphoma, likely we will
see some improvement with the pred.

So, never think you've seen it all and always go with your gut.

Katharine
Florida

[Posted in FML 6889]