Tigger had his surgery on 04/12/04, it was long and rough.  No mass on
his spleen; that was all spleen the doc was feeling when palpating his
abdomen, doc said it was the largest spleen he had ever encountered,
spleen was removed in toto.  He had 3 tumors on his pancreas and those
were removed as well.  Left adrenal gland was removed, going in we
weren't aware there was an adrenal problem but was aware there was a
possibility of it.
 
Tigger has a problem with his gallbladder.  For whatever reason and the
doc doesn't know, the opening going into it and out of it, the ducts are
HUGE.  He milked it and tried to locate a stone but none could be found.
The doc is hoping it was a reaction to his spleen being so large and was
irritating his gallbladder.  Gallbladder removal in ferrets is nothing
like removal in humans, doc explained the difficulties with us.  Doc told
us Tigger had some really strange anatomy....... things he had not seen
before.  Leave it to my angel-boy to throw everyone a curve.
 
Tigger did well with the surgery.  He has to be fed every 2 hours around
the clock so guess who is gonna be napping in short amounts... but it
will be well worth it.  He is getting AD and another special canned
kitten diet with Nutrical, 3-5 cc every 2 hours.
 
So at this time that is all we know.  He is in his hospital cage on a
heating pad, a layer of fleece between the heating pad and his sleep sac
which he is in, making sure he is not directly against the pad, he has
been fed and keeping him as warm and as comfy as possible.
 
Update as of 04/15/04:
Tigger is eating and drinking on his own.  He had gotten to the point he
hated the feedings and I felt bad having to wrestle him in order to feed
him.  He went over to his water bottle once and got a long drink and we
saw him and decided to see if he would eat some of his favorite food and
sure enough, I put a packet of it in his bowl and he ate it, within a
couple of hours the entire packet had been consumed by him.  Of course I
am making sure he is eating every 2 hours but I feel this is such a huge
step for him, after all he has gone through, he actually has the will to
eat and drink on his own.
[Posted in FML issue 4484]