[Moderator's note: Post was reformatted, but otherwise unchanged.  BIG]
 
To Anonymous Poster and Tavvi:
 
Well, I see three things in your post to talk about, the tail tumor, the
high lymphocyte count, and the blood in the urine.
 
First the tail tumor (for everyone who isn't familiar with this relative ly
common ferret neoplasm.  Most of the tumors (95%) coming off of the tail of
the ferret are called chordomas.  They appear as swellings onthe end of the
tail, and look like little clubs (was Ankylosaurus the dinosaur which had a
club on the end of it's tail?).  The tumors arise from remnants of a
primitive type of tissue which develops into the spinal cord during
development of the ferret fetus, known as notochord.  The tumors are
invariably benign, when developing on the end of the tail, although I have
seen a few develop in the neck vertebrae, which resulted in motor impairment
and eventual euthanasia of the two animals which had them.  The good part
about the tail chordomas is that all you have to do is take off the end of
the tail, and the ferrets go on, as good as new.
 
High lymphocyte counts: Now there is no one thing that can cause a high
lymphocyte count in a ferret, and they are very common.  The most common
cause of elevated lymphocyte counts in any animal is a chronic smouldering
infection, and we all know that ferrets as they get older 3+ all have
Helicobacter infections of the stomach that can do this.  Although some vets
have claimed that a high lymphocyte count is seen in animals with early
lymphosarcoma, I think that you have to be very careful with this
interpretation - a lot of these animals with lymphosarcoma also have
Helicobacter infection, so that will throw your analysis off from the start.
 
Blood in the urine - this may indicate either an infection in the urinary
tract, or the presence of small stones or sand-like material in the urine
(and if there is an infection which has been going on for a while, this may
contribute to the high lymphocyte count (remember the "chronic smouldering
infection"?  I would suggest a 10-14 day course of Amoxicillin (very well
tolerated by ferrets) to be on the safe side here - urinary tract infections
can rapidly get serious in female ferrets.  Then a repeat urinalysis,
actually two spaced a few days apart.  If there is no more sign of blood,
then we can quit.  If the blood is still there, then we go with a chemistry
panel, taking a good look at the kidney function, another CBC, and consider
some X-rays of the abdomen to look for stones.  But let's try the antibiotics
and a few more urinalyses first.
 
BTW - when we look at lymphocyte counts, it also helps to know how old the
patient is - older patients are more likely to have Helicobacter infections
than younger ones.
 
Bruce Williams
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[Posted in FML issue 1083]