One of my ferrets (Abu) has recently had a lump/tumor removed from the
inside of his mouth and was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma.  I've
done some poking artound on the web and most of the things I've found don't
look too great.  It seems there is poor prognosis for this cancer when it
is in the oral region.
 
Right now I'm looking at
 
A: cobalt therapy - a series of 12 treatments over the period of a month
B: letting nature take it's course and deal with problems as necessary
 
Abu's getting up there in age and I really don't know what's best for him.
I don't know if putting him through the series of radiation treatments
would be the best thing for him.
 
If anyone has had any experience with squamous cell carcinoma in ferrets, I
would be very interested in hearing anything you have to say.  I need to
make a decision fairly quickly before the cancerous tissue grows back too
much.
 
Abu is a 5 1/2 - 6 year old albino male... a little overweight but quite
happy.  He had a lipoma removed from his chest late last year, has some
tummy trouble evey now and then but other than that seems to be in fairly
good shape.
 
Thanks for any help!
 
-Grant Porter
<http://www.grantbob.com/ferrets/ferrets.html>
[Posted in FML issue 2713]