Dear Jeannie: >... I have a ferret that will be 4 in April. He had an enlarged spleen that was removed a little over a week ago. He also had an adrenal gland removed. It seems that he has a very unique condition. My vet and the specialists that she has conferred with have never heard of this condition in a ferret, only in dogs and cats. It is Lymphangiectasia.... > >Taselhauf was doing really good after his surgery (eating well) until >Friday. All of a sudden he quit eating. I am having to force feed him >now. I have all of his lab reports if there are any vets out there that >might need to see them. I appreciate any help that anyone can give me. >My vet says that this might be a case for the books if no-one has ever >seen this in a ferret before. Lymphangiectasia is a poorly defined condition in dogs and to a lesser extent, cats and other domestic species. The name is actually a description of the disease, as we don't currently know what is the cause in most cases. The name is derived from "ectasia" meaning swelling of the "lymph" vessels in the intestine. It can be seen in association with severe inflammation of the intestine, and I have seen it in several chronic ECE cases with marked inflammation. The cysts are generally swollen and blocked lymphatics, which are often totally obstructed with fat-laden macrophages (lymphatics are normal drainage "canals" for fat-laden materials from the intestine). In dogs, it often appears in certain breeds, such as German Shepherds, without significant inflammation, while in cattle, it is almost always seen in association with Johne's disease, a severe inflammatory disease of the intestine.. So there is probably a lot to this condition that we do not understand. The problem is what occurs secondarily to the lymphatic dilation. Usually the most obvous clinical sign is diarrhea as a result of malabsorption - much of the fat and protein is absorbed using lymphatics as a transport - when they become dilated and blocked, digestion stops and malabsorptive diarrhea starts. There is marked loss of protein into the gut, known as "protein-losing enteropathy" Often the protein loss is so severe that the plasma becomes very thin (hypoalbuminemia), and you get leakage from the vessels, starting in the gut, and progressing to encompass the rest of the body (at this point, you can see it in the skin. You can also have very low calcium levels, as calcium in the blood is bound to circulating proteins. However, these clinical signs are what is generally seen in dogs and other species with hypoalbuminemia due to lymphangiectasia, but we don't know what will happen in the ferret. There really are very few cases that are diagnosed prior to autopsy so you are blazing a trail here. My suggestion would be to treat as you would a dog with lymphangiectasia, and see if there is any relief from this syndrome. With kindest regards, Bruce Williams, DVM [Posted in FML issue 3328]