Hi everyone.  My Sneaky Snake, George lost weight quite suddenly so he went
to see Dr.Joel Murphy D.V.M. today.  Doc said he had a blockage and he
needed immediate surgery.  I thought that was kind of strange because
George isn't at all like the girls when it comes to playing or
investigating.  He is older and longer, (boy is he long!) and not quite as
willing to go the places the girls go.  He hadn't shed much since I've had
him, (just got him last month, his folks moved to CA) but I know Dr. Murphy
is a good vet so believed him.  He offered to let us watch the surgery.  He
does this allot at least with us.  He has let me look in the microscope at
things also.  (I sound like a kid huh?) Anyway I couldn't watch the initial
incision but watched everything after that.  It's amazing what is packed
into those little bodies.  I won't go into detail (thank you Lord) but as
he was pulling "things" out I wondered how in the world it all would go
back in.  Anyway he didn't find a blockage.  He found something much worse.
George's spleen was full of cancer.  I forgot the medical term for it.  It
was just huge!  It was at least half of the size of his body length.  Dr.
Murphy said that he should have known when I brought him in it would be
something he doesn't see too often.  He knows me well.  He said that
ferrets from all over the state of Florida are brought to him for surgery
and it's in a very small percentage that he has seen this.  If something
can be done the hard way, thats how we do it here.  We just had a goose in
for heavy metal poisoning & no she didn't get too close to a rock band.  He
said we had a choice, the spleen was full of cancer and possibly his lymph
nodes as well.  He could remove the spleen and take a biopsy of the lymph
nodes (?glands?) and send it off to see if it was cancerous or he could put
George to sleep.  He said that the chances were pretty good that George had
cancer throughout his whole body if the lymphs had it.  And if he did he
wouldn't last long at all.  There wasn't a whole lot of thought here.  I
didn't want George to suffer at all, but had to give him that one little
chance.  So out came the spleen & George got sewed back up.  Dr. Murphy
said that it was a good thing that we had waited while George was operated
on because he would have had to make the decision as what to do.  I live
about 1& a half hrs away from him and would not have arrived home yet.  I
had wanted to be there for George anyway.  Tonight is a very critical time
for George and I can't wait for it to pass so I can call as soon as
possible and find out how he is.  One thing that is interesting, while doc
was operating I brought up the subject of the FML & how many ferrets had
adrenial problems.  He said that Washington State University was doing
research about this now and they were trying to get a drug that would work
on the adrenial glands instead of surgery.  So lets all pray that they do.
How great that would be.  I said that from what I had been gathering on the
internet that European ferrets didn't have all these problems and he
replied that it was thought Americans didn't let the ferrets live the way
they would do naturally.  I had wanted to ask him more about this but I
didn't want to distract him too much.  You can bet that I will ask more
questions about this though.  Please all, send up a bitty prayer for George
when you can.  I feel so bad for him.  His previous mom & pop gave him to
me to care for instead of taking him to CA where they risked his getting
confiscated & put to death and he has been here only a little over a month.
I know he has been happy though frisking around with the 5 girls.  I know
also that he was trying to tell me something last night & today before
leaving home, he lathered my face with kisses when I picked him up &
cuddled with him.  George isn't a real demonstrative kind of guy.
 
Lynn & the Sneaky Snake Six.
[Posted in FML issue 2596]