I am a new subscriber to the list, so I don't know if this has been
discussed in detail before but I didn't find it discussed to my satisfaction
on the ferret FAQ, so I figured I'd send in a post.  I just lost a precious
eight month old baby to juvenile onset lymphosarcoma, and I wanted to share
my experience with that.  Robin was acting completely normal until two days
before his death.  He had begun to calm down from the wild and crazy kit
phase, but the vet said that was completely normal and I had a wonderful
month or two of a very well mannered ferret.  Last Wednesday I noticed that
the boy was a bit lethargic; he wouldn't play with his best buddy, the wild
and crazy four month old Moses, and just sort of cried when Moses came and
chewed on him.  A bit concerned, I called the vet who said that he might
just be entering yet another phase of ferret-ness and calming down even
more.  I was advised to observe him; the vet didn't think this warranted a
visit.  Thursday morning Robin was still lethargic, but physically looked
just fine.  I called the vet and made an appt.  for friday afternoon, and
just resolved to keep an eye on him that evening.  About 6 pm, I noticed
(while rescuing him from another of Moses' playful advances) that he was
severely dehydrated, though he'd been eating, drinking, urinating and
pooping in normal amounts all along.  Also, I noticed that the tissue of his
gums and nose was rather pale.  I called the vet and brought him in right
away.  A few x-rays later, I was informed that he had a severly inlarged
spleen and lymph nodes, and that the probably diagnoses was Lymphosarcoma.
The ferret could live on prednosone, but she could only promise me a few
months with him.  She attempted to draw blood, but he was too stressed,
dehydrated, and his spleen was too enlarged to be able to get any out of
him.  I planned to leave him there for observation overnight, but he was
unable to survive the stress and died shortly thereafter.  I never had any
indication, besides his lethargy of only a day and a half, that he was ill
at all.  I was informed that juvenile lymphosarcoma, though rare, strikes
quickly.  I hope that this may be of use to someone who has either recently
lost a fuzzie to lymphoma and wonders if the experience was the same for
someone else, or someone who may experience it in the future...
 
Kirstin Hendrickson, Moses and the baby Felix
[Posted in FML issue 1694]