[Sukie note: the FHL can be found at http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth . Because of slow connections tonight I will be gleaning the vet posts to carry over from the digest, rather than giving specific URLs] --- Author wrote: >My 4 year old female ferret has been diagnosed by our vet with probable >liver cancer. January 2003 I noticed that she had swollen nodes in her >neck, so I took her to the vet. She had no other symptoms, weight & >appetite were good, so he wanted to watch her. There were no other >nodes found to be swollen. > >Decemeber 5, just last month, she had an upper respiratory infection, >so I took her to a vet that is much closer. I showed him the nodes, >which were no larger than 11 months before, and he agreed that they >should just be watched, and that he did not suspect lymphoma because >she had had them so long. She responded well to the Amoxi drops that >were prescribed. > >Last week I noticed that the nodes on her neck had increased in size, >so we went back to the last vet for evaluation. Her weight had dropped >from 807 grams December 5 to 749 grams. This was January 21. No >additional nodes were found to be swollen, but he did find a >questionable lump/mass upon exam in her abdomen, so he did an >ultrasound. It showed the liver quite enlarged with a mass extending >from it. He said that it was not well defined, so that it would be >difficult to actually remove a lobe where the large mass is. Also, >there were 2-4 other smaller masses beside the liver which may or may >not be lymph nodes that are cancerous. The spleen looked normal. He >says that she does not have many options, although we could do blood >work to see if she is a candidate for surgery. Should we opt to not >do surgery, we can just keep her comfortable. He gave her a shot of >dexamethasone and Amoxi drops. Her temp was 103.2, I think, but he >wanted to give the antibiotic in the event there is an infection. At >this point, because of his saying how difficult the surgery would be and >that it wouldn't buy her much time because she's an older ferret anyway, >I have decided to just keep her comfortable. I would like an opinion >from a veterinarian on the list should any read my post. While there is a likelihood of lymphoma here, is there a reason why the nodes in the neck weren't at least aspirated? I guess I'm a traditionalist - I don't generally start talking about how much time a ferret has left without knowing exactly what type of neoplasm I am dealing with (or if I am really dealing with one. Personally, I don't like to write off a ferret without having a definitive diagnosis. With kindest regards, Bruce Williams, DVM [Posted in FML issue 4401]