>From:    Dawn Hohl <[log in to unmask]>
>
>If anyone has experienced this problem with their ferret, please let me
>know what you learned.  My angora ferret has developed a small "knot" for
>lack of a better word on the very tip of her tail.  It is not red and is
>hard.  It seems to have gotten slightly larger the last week.  It is only
>about double the size of the tip of her tail.
 
What you have there sounds to me like a chordoma.  As long as a chordoma is
only on the tail, it is easy for your vet to remove.  They will take off
the chordoma plus a couple more joints of the tail to be sure they got it
all.  You end up with a ferret with a little shorter tail, but not really
noticable.  They arise from cells that were part of the notochord in the
embryo that didn't become part of the brain-spinal cord system as it should
have.  They need to be removed because they continue to grow and become
pretty nasty.
 
--
Russ, Booger, Bonnie & Clyde
[log in to unmask]
 
URA Redneck if you own a denim leisure suit.
[Posted in FML issue 3517]