This is posted by permission by Dr. Kent Morley, D.V.M.
 
"The hair coat was rough in appearance and the abdomen was greatly
distended.  The subcutaneous fat pads of the inguinal area were very large.
Incision into the abdomen revealed large amounts of adipose tissue
surrounding the abdominal organs and no abnormal amounts of fluid.  The fat
was extensive, filling the abdominal cavity.  Along the lumbar area there
were areas of adipose tissue approximately 1 cm x 3 cm that appeared dark
red and greenish.  Samples were taken of these areas and sent to Central
Laboratory for Veterinarians for histopathology.  The liver, kidneys,
stomach, pancreas, large and small intestines and bladder were all
identified and appeared to be normal.  The adrenal glands were not
identified.  The thorax was opened and revealed large amounts of adipose
tissue.  The heart and lungs both appeared normal.
 
"Histopathology results revealed the tissue samples to be normal adipose
tissue with hemorrhage and scarring.  This is (sic) could possible be due
to trauma, but occurred before euthanasia as demonstrated by normal
scarring.
 
"In my professional opinion the results of this post mortem are
undiagnostic.  Possiblities (sic) range from hormonal and metabolic to
dietary abnormalities."
 
adipose = of or relating to animal fat
 
So, what does it mean.  Well, the long and short of the results is that we
still don't know what happened to Tinder.  If diet was the cause the
question Dr. Morley asked is, why don't the other ferrrets suffer from the
same thing.  And although we know that different people react differently
to the same stimuli the same would also applied to our non-human
companions.
 
The trauma referred to in this report caused some debate as I tried to
think of any reason for it to be there.  Did she get beaten up by one of
the boys?  Well, she was always separated from the boys by a door in our
absense.  When we were home, she was never out of our site.  And if there
was trouble, we responded quickly.  Did she fall on her back?  More of a
possibility yet highly unlikely because she lived on the floor.  The only
time she was up off the floor was when we had her in the bed or when she
was in our arms.  I am a light sleeper so any movement from her immediately
woke me.  Any other possibilites?  My husband thinks he might have stepped
on her as she settled in his jeans and he had gotten up for a quick pee in
the middle of the night.  As soon as he felt something under his foot he
said he shot up, but .... we will never know the cause.  But at least at
this point I know it wasn't her kidneys and that this information may be
useful to any of you who may have a ferret that looks like he/she is
filling up with fluid.  Keep weights monitored and feel their bodies often.
Changes can be felt if you do these checks on a regular basis.  I know not
everything can be detected this way, but it gave us the first indiction
something was wrong with our little girl.
 
I spoke with the Zoo vet I work with and he passed on this information:
Necropsies are very important in order to determine the cause of the
animals' death or illness.  Bear in mind that of all necropsies done there
is still only a 60-80% chance that cause will be determined.  So, that
leaves a 20-40% chance that we will never know what the cause or the
problem was.  In Tinder's case, she had this fat fill her little body.
There is no test to find out that she had fat in there.  Even an ultrasound
would determine that something was there but one could not be able to
determine if it was fluid or fat.  Yes, you can test for other things and
try to narrow it down from the other side of things, but he felt that
something like this would be extremely hard to diagnose.  She could have
had an exploratory, but the question that still comes to the forefront is:
what was the cause?  Without knowing that variable, how do you treat the
problem?  Answer... with great difficulty and with extreme caution.
 
Well, here's hoping that this helps someone, somewhere, with their
little fuzzies.
 
Betty and her Remaining Blurs O'Fur
Missing Tinder
[Posted in FML issue 2448]