We brought one of our ferrets, Falstaff, into the vet because things "just
weren't quite right".  He had had a loose stool a few days ago, but by the
time we figured out which ferret it was, he was getting better, so we
assumed it was just a bug (I'd had one a few days earlier, so it seemed
logical).  But he seemed to be eating less than we'd have liked, and his
hind legs were occaisonally slipping on the linoleum, so . . .
 
He's got a minor case of insulinoma, which I suspected (minor, as there have
been no seizures, spaciness, drooling, pawing at mouth, etc.).  But more
worrisome was a mass in his abdomen that the vet palpated.  She had said his
spleen was enlarged, so put him under iso to do an aspirate - and while
under, felt this other mass (it wasn't noticeable, even to her, until he was
under - which means we also don't know how long its been there.  It's been
5-6 months since his last routine vet visit, though).  The lump is not part
of his spleen, its not his adrenal, and its not on his pancreas.  It's quite
sizeable, and the vet was afraid of doing a biopsy for fear of it rupturing.
Obviously, we'll need to have exploratory done, but we're wondering if
anyone has any suggestions about what we're facing.  His sire had lymphoma
at age 3-4 (diagnosed after being bred, obviously), so that's my first
guess.  However, no other lymph nodes are enlarged, so there aren't other
symptoms supporting that.  At the moment, we're waiting on the spleen
aspirate, and a blood panel, and we may want to increase his blood glucose
levels before we actually do surgery, so we're in temporary limbo.  In the
meantime, however, has anyone seen something else that would present like
this?
 
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 Rochelle Newman              [log in to unmask]
 Assistant Professor          (319) 335-2417 (office)
 Department of Psychology     (319) 335-1979 (lab)
 University of Iowa           (319) 335-0191 (fax)
 11 Seashore Hall E
 Iowa City, IA 52242-1407
 http://www.psychology.uiowa.edu/Faculty/Newman.html
 --------------------------------------------------------
[Posted in FML issue 2412]