To Cindy Beach:
 
I know Dr.  Dutton has already answered this one, but I thought I'd expound
a little bit....
 
>About a month ago I noticed a red spot on my little girl ferret's rear end.
>It's a little ways out from her anus...  now that I have noticed again,
>the red spot is still there on top of a large hard lump....  Could it be
>something to do with her scent glands or is it too far away from her anus?
 
No, it certainly could have to do with the anal sacs (which a lot of people
refer to as the scent glands) which are positioned at about 4 o'clock and 8
oclock if you are looking at the south end of your ferret.  They are
generally 4-6 mm away from the anal sphicter, so they are a bit further out
than many people realize.
 
A bad descent may have resulted in incomplete removal of the anal sac on
that side which will continue to produce secretion, even though it has
nowhere to go.  Eventually these sacs will abscess and rupture to the
outside.  Just before this happens, the area will become red, inflamed,
lose hair, and be painful.
 
But you do need to also think about the possibility of neoplasms in this
area.  I ahve seen several types of tumors here, including malignant skin
tumors, and some glandular tumors.  I definitely agree with Dr. Dutton -
the best thing that you can do at this point is to have whatever it is
surgically removed and looked at by a pathologist to determine what it is.
This is a tricky area to remove a large tumor from, so we certainly don't
want to let it get any bigger if we can help it.
 
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 1484]