Hi All:

My Patrick is a roughly 5 yr old male (from Ferrets Unlimited shelter
in the Cleveland area), who I've had for about 4 yrs now. His
background is unknown to me -- he has no tattoos of any sort that
I've ever found, but he came to me altered & descented.

Several wks ago, I noticed that his belly was getting larger. At first,
I cracked it up to gaining weight for the winter, which he has always
done. But after awhile, I became suspicious that perhaps his spleen was
enlarged. A trip to our excellent ferret vet confirmed this, & an xray
was done. This showed that, not only was the spleen enlarged, but that
there was some sort of "mass", as well. Surgery was done, & it was
found that he had not only the large spleen, but the lymph node that
drains the entire intestinal tract was also enlarged. The spleen also
had small, scattered purplish spots on it. The node was drained, & a
sample of that, as well as one of the spots on the spleen was sent in
to pathology.

Fortunately, it came back that there was NO lymphoma -- our vet's &
our first fear. The enlarged node was considered to be "reactive" to
something. Our vet said that it's usually due to them being sensitive
to something in their diet.

After posting on a couple forums, I got the impression that chicken
was usually the first thing to be suspicious of. Patrick (& my other 3
fuzzies) have been eating Totally Ferret Show & Active formula since
forever. Several people told me that it wasn't the best food for them,
& pointed me to some food charts.

This has basically left me confused. I've read that a lot of people
switch to the Turkey & Venison formula, but according to the charts I
looked at, that's also not considered to be the best food, either. But
finding a food on the charts that are (1) considered high quality, *&*
(2) do not contain chicken of any sort? There aren't any that I saw
listed!

So, my question: Has anyone here had a ferret who's had this happen to
them, & if so, what did you do to help solve this?

BTW, Patrick is recovering from his surgery w/ no problems, is feeling
good (I have to stop him from wanting to climb into his cage), the
incision looks great, & he'll be getting his stitches out next wk.

Any suggestions are most welcome. But please, as I stated in the
subject line, I do NOT want to get into a heated debate about
kibble-v-raw!!!

Thanks in advance ~

Lin

[Posted in FML 7657]