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]