>When the doctor was performing the FNA under general anesthetic she
>poised the needle over a large lump in Newton's neck then withdrew
>stating that she wasn't confident that the lump wasn't her thyroid (as
>opposed to lymph node) and didn't take a sample from it.  Newton's lymph
>nodes all over are quite large, and she's thin as a rake.  The FNA's
>turned up nothing but we treated her as if it were lymphoma (prednisone
>.8 ml 2x/day)
 
Generally, we treat lymphoma only after it has been diagnosed.  If the FNA
shows nothing, then a biopsy of one of these large lumps should be the
next step, rather than treatment of a diseases whose presence has not
been established.
 
>She eats a lot, and I supplement her with all the a/d she will take (via
>seringe and in a dish) but she still seems to be losing weight.  I have
>begun to wonder if it is hyperthyroidism instead of (or as well as?)
>lymphoma.
 
Hyperthyroidism has yet to be documented in ferrets - cat and human
replies to this method notwithstanding.  And, if we did see it in ferrets,
there is no guarantee that the clinical signs would be the same as in the
dog or cat.  If you look up hyperadrenocorticism or insulinoma in your
Merck manual - you will read description of diseases which bear no
resemblance to what we see in the ferret.
 
>Would a hyperthyroid ferret have enlarged lymph nodes and spleen?
 
While you can pursue this by running a standard t3/t4 panel, I think that
for close to the same price you may be able to get that lump excised and
analyzed to see what it is, and this would be a much more cost-effective
way to go.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 3664]