(For detailed info on ferret lymphsarcoma, visit the website:
www.next.com/Homes/dennis/ff/med/lymph.html#treatment
 
Hi Kristin,
 
I am SO sorry about your 8 month-old ferret. I too lost my 7 1/2 month-old
girl Poofer to lymphoma on Labor Day weekend, and believe me, it is a hard
thing to get over.  Like your ferret, Poof was fine, then was suddenly
lethargic.  I thought she had a cold or the flu.  After a couple days of
this, I noticed she was dehydrated and having difficulty respirating.  She
also felt hot.  I force-fed her water, and had her sleep in the bed next to
me so I could keep an eye on her.  The next morning, I brought her to the
local animal hospital.  Her temperature was very high - 102.5, and her
spleen felt enlarged, although they didn't detect any abnormalities in the
X-ray.  No one knew what was wrong w/ her.  I left her there to be put into
ICU.  I visited her that night again, but they had taken her out of ICU
because her temp was down.  After shaving all four legs to find a vein, they
still couldn't get a needle into her, so they gave her under-the-skin
injections of fluids to keep her hydrated.  She looked confused, but did
recognize me.
 
The next morning, the vet said her fever had spiked again and she was in ICU
on oxygen.  I thought it was green slime disease, but they said that
difficulty with resperating was not a symptom of green slime.  The vet said
it might be lymphoma.  Interestingly, her white blood cell count was in the
normal range.
 
I visited her again, and she looked awful - each leg had purple bruises
where they tried to unsuccessfully shove in the IV needle, and she looked
strange - like not the same old Poof.  Although she recognized me, she may
have been brain-damaged at this point from the fever.  The vets still didn't
know what it was.  I could tell Poof was not going to get better, so I
decided to put her out of her misery and told them to put her to sleep.  It
was the saddest day of my life and I felt like I had lost my baby girl.
This was a few weeks ago and I'm still very sad.
 
Anyway, the autopsy showed lymphoma in her chest (which was affecting her
breathing ability) and abdomen.  I later checked out a website on ferret
lymphoma; turns out, it is very common in ferrets, comprising about 20% of
all reported neoplasms, or growths.  One woman who runs a shelter in New
Hampshire told me they have a 50/50 shot of getting it by age 4.  I guess
it's just a risk that we as ferret owners have to take.  Ferrets in/from
England do not have a high rate of cancer.  Perhaps it's b/c they are not so
inbred, or because they are not neutered so early.  Neutering a ferret
really young like they do here prevents them from growing to full size (an
un-neutered ferret is HUGE!), and prevents their immune system from fully
developing.  Makes me think twice about buying another ferret that's been
neutered/spayed at 5 weeks old.
 
        -Jenn
[Posted in FML issue 1695]