I talked to my vet yesterday and he finally got the sample results back; he
had a huge, malignant adrenal tumor.  He had not shown any of the typical
symptoms you expect to see with adrenal cancer, but apparently that is in
fact what he had.  His theory on what happened last Saturday that actually
took him is that this tumor got so big it finally perforated his (forgive
the spelling, I *know* this is wrong) vena kava, which is the main artery
to the heart, as I understand.  One he started bleeding out, his body
stopped producing platelets and he started bruising all over, internally
and externally.
 
When I first got him to the vet Saturday, the vet was thinking rat poison
(although in my small apartment, I told him there wasn't any bait for
rats), mostly because he had previously, even the day before, not had any
obvious medical problems.  He felt his bladder and said that it was huge
and he needed to remove the fluid.  We now know that the normally
unspectacular trauma of removing fluid from the bladder, is what sent him
on his fast downward spiral, since he wasn't clotting blood at that point
and any tiny bump, stick of a needle, etc, made things that much worse.
 
I do think back now and wonder if I couldn't have done something, that I
should have somehow 'known' he wa sick.  I was aware of adrenal cancer in
ferrets and watched carefully for the symptoms listed is many books, but
he didn't seem to have any of these with the exception that over the last
year he's 'slowed down' a bit in his romps, but I attributed it to aging.
I'm glad to at least have an answer, to know what happened, and to have
gained some knowledge for the future.
 
Kim
[Posted in FML issue 3189]