Some of you may remember my writing to the list for advice about my sick
ferret-his symptoms were not eating well or pooping well, and dragging his
rear legs a bit.  Then he seemed to recover, was eating great and pooping
normally after a course of antibiotics and a vitamin shot.
 
Well, I'm sad to say that his condition worsened again.  Although he
continued to eat normally, etc, he started tilting his head severely to one
side and could barely walk a step without falling over.  He also started
losing weight again.  I thought he had a severe case of ear mites, which was
perplexing since I had been treating them with ear mite medication.  Every
day I would clean out chunks of stuff from his ears.
 
I took him back to the vet Monday,and the vet said he had tumors in his
inner ears, and showed them to me.  He suggested that I could take him to
the vet school at Cornell University for surgery, but I knew that between
the delicacy of the operation and his weakened state that he would never
survive it, so I had to put him to sleep.
 
Boy did that suck.  There's such an empty spot where his ferret condo used
to be.
 
At any rate, my vet is very interested in learning more about ferret
pathology, particulary if anyone has any knowledge about tumors in ferrets.
I don't think I've ever read here about anyone's ferret having ear tumors.
 
Any info would be appreciated, and many thanks.
 
Tj
[Posted in FML issue 1999]