Re cartilage: last I heard there still is a study under way after a
promising preliminary study in which cooked, blended chicken cartilage
was given in orange juice.  You'll find the info in a search of past
Science News pieces.
 
Perhaps the most common cause of staring into space blankly by a ferret
is insulinoma (blood sugar too low due to insulin producing growths in
the pancreas) so when that happens it is important to check the blood
sugar to be safe.
 
Barbara, I also hate when people describe ferrets on the media as pocket
pets; it often leads to tiny cages, too little activity, poor care,
grocery or discount store food (even dog food sometimes), and a lack of
needed veterinary care.  Too many times we all hear that folks didn't
know that ferrets need their vaccines when they get canine distemper in
their homes, or that they don't have savings when a ferret needs surgery,
or... and then the people will go on the give their sources of
information as a show like that or a pet store sales person and nothing
more.  The ones who seek internet help often seem to want to learn so
they change things positively, but what about the rest?
 
What are the margins like and are there lumps?  Enlarged spleens are not
unusual in ferrets (usually for benign reasons though some of those have
to come out for safety and comfort) and when they are so large that they
have to come out ferrets don't tend to miss them.  Go to the FHL Complete
Archives or the FML archives and you'll find stuff on this.  If the
margins are uneven or there are lumps, though, the chances of there being
lymphoma which your vet mentioned goes way up and then the outcome
depends on multiple factors.  Be sure to have pathology done on it when
it is removed.
 
Have you had a ferret go through surgery before?  If not, do read up
beforehand on post-surgical care like using newspaper instead of regular
litters, not allowing climbing for a while (around here even ramps are
no-nos for at least 10 days), etc.
 
I'm not a vet.
[Posted in FML issue 4165]