>I guess the rarity of leukemia in ferrets depends on who you talk to and
>where you live.  I personally know two people who lost ferrets to
>leukemia, one last summer and one whose devoted owner kept her alive for
>a year with her awesome nursing skills.  Since one of the cases was
>diagnosed by one of the vets who frequents this list <<<<waves>>>>
>I have no doubts of the legitimacy of that diagnoses.
 
Here is the answer for everyone who wonders about the difference between
leukemia and lymphoma (lymphosarcoma) -
 
It's just the location.  Now I'll generalize a bit - the vast majority of
leukemias are composed of lymphocytes.  (Leukemia simply means a neoplasm
of white blood cells, of which there are several others - neutrophils,
eosinophils, monocytes, and basophils, but leukemias composed of these
cell lines are pretty rare.)
 
Lymphoma is a neoplasm composed of lymphocytes - they grow and multiply out
of control.  The term lymphoma indicates a solid tumor growth - it can be
in a lymph node, in the liver, in the bladder, eye, or any other organ.
 
With leukemia, the tumor is in a specific organ - the blood.  The tumor
cells circulate in the blood, and you may see markedly elevated levels of
lymphocytes.  (Leukemia also encompasses neoplastic cells in the bone
marrow, where blood is made from).
 
So if you find the neoplastic cells in the blood or bone marrow, it's a
leukemia.  If you find tumors in other organs, it's a lymphoma.  And in
the rare cases in which you find both, I have used the term leukemic
lymphoma, which makes everyone happy.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce H. Williams, DVM, DACVP
 
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[Posted in FML issue 3420]