>From:    cynthia jennerman <[log in to unmask]>
>
>I have a rescue who came to me with a hard lump on the end of her tail.
>It's hard and goes from white to pinkish.  Very little hair grows on it
>and it's about the size of an average grape.  I'm taking her to the vet,
>but I was wondering if anyone has seen or heard anything like this
>before.
 
Hi Cynthia,
 
It sounds like a chordoma, a type of abnormal growth in the tail
vertebrae.  My ferret Pan had surgery to remove one just this last
Friday, though his wasn't anywhere near as big as a grape, more like a
pea.  It's a very straightforward surgery; the lump and the next few
vertebrae above it are removed, and that's completely curative (at least
according to my vet).  The lump can be painful for the ferret and if it
grows large enough the skin can split, so it's best to remove it sooner
rather than later.
 
There's not a ton of information about chordoma online, but here's one
link:
 
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/chordoma.html
 
regards,
Regina
 
 
Regina Harrison  [log in to unmask]
everything moved:
http://users.rcn.com/badriya/
blog: http://badriya-z.blogspot.com/
 
"Is that my business?  Well, what is my business?  Do I know?  Did I ever
know?  Let s not go into that.  You re not human tonight, Marlowe.  Maybe
I never was or ever will be... Maybe we all get like this in the cold
half-lit world where always the wrong thing happens and never the right."
--Raymond Chandler, The Little Sister
[Posted in FML issue 4411]