We took Piccolo to our vet and he drew off 660 cc of fluid from his
chylous ascites. The lab work we did on the fluid (the last time he
drew off fluid) did not show Lymphoma but that does not mean he doesn't
have it because, as I understand it, it usually doesn't show in this
fluid until his organs are well involved. The ultra sound didn't reveal
any tumors. Chances are greater that he has Lymphoma than anything else

Piccolo is 6 years old and has adrenal disease.

We can't afford the thousands of dollars it would cost to do the
surgery, biopsies, chemo doctor, and chemo. We also can't afford to
have this fluid drawn off every 4 - 6 weeks (I do understand that the
fluid will collects more quickly as the disease progresses.

Right after his surgery he looked like a brand new ferret but today
he looks like he doesn't feel.

We have started him on pred hoping that will help and that has proven
to be a huge challenge. Piccolo is one of those extremely picky
ferrets, he'll only eat his kibble and when he does its only when he
wants to eat it. So far we have tried pureed chicken, pureed chicken
with ensure, purred chicken with ferretone, purred chicken with ensure
and ferretone, his kibble crushed up and moistened, his kibble crushed
and made into a soup. He acts like its clavamox. He is 110% sure that
there is no way that food will pass his lips. We have been able to get
some food down him with scruffing and a syringe that comes with a fight
and leaves him a little traumatized. We can't keep putting him through
that kind of feeding process. We also do not want him to get an ulcer
from the pred.

We are going to see if we can let him out of his cage and see if he'll
eat on his own then we can give him the pred. Most times when he gets
out he goes over and eats. I'm just hoping he will continue to do this.

We have also tried about every treat we can find. He used to like the
Totally ferret treats but they don't make them any more. We're trying
totally ferret food as a treat but so far its not been received well.

In the back of my head with the way he looked today I'm thinking he
does not have much time.

Any ideas?

Mike

[Posted in FML 7858]