We have a ferret with a very aggressive neck tumor -- it has already
entirely surrounded the esophagus, and displaced the trachea and 2 neck
vertebrae.  Our vet says the chance of a successful surgery is down around
5%, and I suspect thats being generous (on an x-ray, even a layman can tell
this is a massive tumor).  Furthermore, it is likely to start interfering
with breathing in the near future; our vet doesn't think he'd last a month,
given how much it has progressed in the past week and a half.  We're
leaning towards trying surgery (with the most likely result being that
we'll have him put to sleep while on the table) -- I guess my question is
whether there are any vets out there who have seen something like this
before.
 
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 Rochelle Newman              [log in to unmask]
 Assistant Professor          (319) 335-2417 (office)
 Department of Psychology     (319) 335-1979 (lab)
 University of Iowa           (319) 335-0191 (fax)
 11 Seashore Hall E
 Iowa City, IA 52242-1407
 http://www.psychology.uiowa.edu/Faculty/Newman/Newman.html
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[Posted in FML issue 2663]