Our Meeteetse had spinal lymphoma. You will find others who went
through it in the archives of the FML (addy in the header of every
day's FML), and the FHL (addy in my sig lines).
She was on Prednisolone and an opiate pain killer. The opiate was
essential. It did NOT slow her down. Instead the pain control made her
more vibrant. These days treatment options for various malignancies in
ferrets include radiation and chemo. For some chemo types Prednisolone
(or Prednisone -- which is less effective than Prednisolone if the
liver is compromised) should not be given first. In some types of
malignancies when radiation can be used Vitamin C should be restricted
before use because the tumors can shield themselves with products of
the C.
Your vet will probably be talking with a veterinary oncologist to
figure out the best approach.
Also essential (and not something to wait before ordering because
when they worsen it can happen quickly and the non-homemade ones can
sometimes take a while to arrive) is a mobility cart. The nicest I
have found is the Ferret Flier:
http://www.ferretfarm.org/index.html?target=dept_98.html&lang=en-us
Until then some temporary solutions people have used are things like
castor added to doll surf boards or small and very well sanded pieces
of wood, tiny cages with bottoms removed, castors put on all 4 corners
and a sling hung from the top for the ferret, etc.
The castors MUST have 360' turning ability or the ferret will do things
that will land the ferret on the floor on his or her side.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/http://ferrethealth.org/archive/http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.htmlhttp://www.miamiferret.org/http://www.ferretcongress.org/http://www.trifl.org/index.shtmlhttp://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
[Posted in FML 6258]
