To Stacy Schrier:
 
>We got him into a local vet which we have gone to once before and got a
>good impression.  He kept him for tests and fluids during the day today.
>Tomorrow morning Grumpy is having his spleen removed.  The vet also suspects
>a tumor, but, can't tel l until he goes inside.  The vet's only concern is
>him awakening from the surgery.
 
Stacy:
 
If it'll help you sleep any easier - in over 95% of large spleens, there is
no evidence of a tumor.  Most are just a proliferation of immature red and
white blood cells, usually due to inflammation somewhere else in the body.
In many cases, a common stomach infection by a bacteria called Helicobacter,
which almost every ferret has, is probably to blame.
 
But make sure he sends the spleen off to be checked by a pathologist,
someone who knows something about the diseases of the ferret....
 
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP              Chief Pathologist, AccuPath
Dept. of Veterinary Pathology               [log in to unmask]
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1692]