Chiclet came through her ultrasound well.  Her spleen in up now so that
was biopsied during ultrasound but unfortunately it was not possible to
do a core biopsy of the node.  No tumors were found.  Between that, a
slight decrease in size of the node, and comparisons of her cytology over
the course of the illness her consulting oncologist is now tentatively
leaning toward thinking that a massive infection is more likely.  If it
is infection then the cause remains unknown and she is still at risk
though she seems to have a little bit of improvement overall (despite
grinding now).  Hopefully, more will be known when her splenic biopsy
results come back.
 
Reminder: this is a 6 month old female who suddenly presented early last
Wednesday afternoon with a massive popliteal node and who rapidly went
into high fevering.  Early aspirates were slightly bloody, but when later
ones were done one stick got a lot of blood which should not have been
there but other(s) worked out fine.  When the results came in they were
not clearly any specific cause.  She was not able to give much blood (I
have to remember to ask for copies of her medical reports.) but what
could gotten clotted unusually fast.  Despite that it was able to be
found that she is anemic and her results were at the levels most commonly
seen with lympho, in contrast to the nodal aspirate and now the lack of
growths.
 
If it is infection the Clavamox may not be touching it (or may only do
so in combination with injected Baytril) but the injected Baytril does
seem to have an effect that lasts about 18 hours or fewer; then her fever
has been usually popping back up for the hours till her next shot and
mechanical ways of reducing her body temp like cool soaks have been used
effectively.
 
She is now having Carafate due to the mild grinding which began in just
the last two (?  -- I've lost track of time) days and that is giving her
noticeable comfort.  She is eating babyfood or a/d with heated water and
Ferretone well but rejecting kibble the last few days.  Except for the
expected extreme exhaustion, high fevers, huge and tender node, swollen
and tender area around the node, and the rest mentioned here or in past
posts there are no other pointers.  Her only aberrant stool was after a
time with a lot of abdominal manipulation to try to look for inflamed
abdominal nodes so that could have been mechanical.
 
We'll hopefully know more later.
 
She is a very sick little girl but we hope to pull her through this
despite everything, though we still know that the odds are not great,
especially since the other two who presented similarly both died despite
all efforts.  With the node having a slight reduction and a better chance
of it not being lympho I feel like maybe she's got a shot at it, though.
 
I am curious to learn the particulars on the other two ferrets who
presented similarly.  Both of those were recent, right?  (Or am I
mis-remembering on one?) Has anyone else encountered this combination?
I have to wonder if perhaps some unknown ferrets were similar but were
given up on, were too ill for many tests, or died and didn't have
necropsies with pathology.  Please, contact me at <[log in to unmask]>.
 
In terms of mental health she still loves being cuddled by people and
loves kissing us, is sleeping most of the time, and wants absolutely
nothing to do with any other ferrets right now which is not terribly
usual when one is very ill though it varies among individuals and with
degree of illness (Yes, we checked for wounds and splinters -- repeatedly
including with wet fur which made it easier -- in case that played into
it but none have been found so far, but we left a message that our vet
should feel free to shave her as much as desired to do an inspection
that is even closer if he thinks it would make sense.)
[Posted in FML issue 4177]