There seems to be some confusion with people thinking that any lymphoma
that appears in a kit is JL, but there are other forms. Lymphoblastic
Lymphoma is JL; yes, it is specific disease. Luckily, the other forms
do not usually show up in kits but sadly they can. Even more
fortunately, given how aggressive it is, JL usually does not show up in
ferrets who are over two years of age. We have twice had ferrets with
the Lymphoblastic form of lymphoma; the first lasted several weeks
after symptoms first appeared but in her final week had it go into her
spinal cord. The second died in three days after symptoms began with
her thymic enlargement so great that her chest cavity filled with
bloody fluid. Ferrets with true JL (Lymphoblastic Lymphoma) survive an
average of two weeks.

In this presentation which DOES include necropsy photos:

<http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/Presentations/Malignant_Lymphoma_in_a_Ferret.pdf>
an eight month old ferret had lymphocytic lymphoma and also was a kit.
The description for this kit is much like the description of the
original ferret.

For those who want to avoid the photos (though the treating vets should
get a copy of this presentation) there is a final slide which goes into
the main features of the three common lymphoma TYPES encountered in
ferrets.

I do not want to violate any copyrights so will just use a bit of it
with some paraphrasing:

lymphocytic form:
most common, usually in older ferrets, swollen peripheral lymph nodes,
later visceral spread

juvenile or lymphoblastic form:
thymic masses and early visceral neoplasms - little to no lymph node
replacement

immunoblastic polymorphous variant:
uncommon; combines visceral neoplasms and peripheral lymphadenopathy
(swollen nodes involved in the disease)

End section worked from that link.

Not all forms of lymphoma that appear in kits are JL! Nor do only
juveniles get JL (though it is incredibly rare in adults). Not all
ferrets who get the adult form of lymphoma, lymphocytic lymphoma, are
adults though the vast majority are.

Hopefully that helps.

I was asked if there are other forms of lymphoma that kits can get and
I knew there were but this presentation really brings it home and the
way it reads leads me to think that it may be highly applicable to the
kit in question.

Sukie (not a vet) Ferrets make the world a game.

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html

"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)

A nation is as free as the least within it.

[Posted in FML 7817]