Dr. Williams wrote: >Mast cell tumors are common benign skin tumors in ferrets. Assuming that >this very ferret-knowledgeable vet is correct in her assessment, then the >thing to do is have it removed. Don't worry in that it may be malignant, >but it should be removed, as mast cell tumors do not spontaneously >regress, often ulcerate, and may serve as portals for infection until >removed. Dr. Williams, Thank you for saying this. A while back, we got into a discussion about whether mast cell tumors should be removed and a number of people wrote me that they don't bother having them removed; they're not normally malignant and they don't want to expose their ferret to anesthesia if it's not absolutely necessary. My vet feels they should be removed because of what they could be doing "inside". I don't think you can know for sure whether it's a mast cell tumor without a pathology report. Some people say they can tell by looking at them. Lany's looked like a tiny little scab on her tummy. I was even a little embarrassed taking her in for them to look at it and only did so because someone else was going in anyway. It was removed because a scraping showed something irregular and because of the strange location for a "boo-boo". Her vet was surprised that it turned out to be a mast cell tumor. She later had a nasty looking thing on her shoulder that I was sure was a mast cell tumor and it was nothing. I don't think you can be too careful. Katharine [Posted in FML issue 3233]