Hello- My sweet boy, Rascal, has been battling what we thought was a nasty urinary tract infection for several months now. A bit of history (Ill try to make it short)- Rascal has had a very hard time. He was purchased from a pet store 2-3 years ago. For whatever reasons (I think it has to do with his condition) his previous owners took him back to the pet store in June of this year. They said he had had a urinary tract infection once, and it had been treated. However a friend of mine saw Rascal had been at this store for a couple months, was showing symptoms of urinary infection (dribbling urine, pus leaking from his penis), and the pet store was not treating him. (So theres really no telling how long he has had these problems) She convinced the pet store to allow her to take Rascal and promptly took him to her vet where he was treated for the infection. The pus cleared up and dribbling decreased; however within a few weeks the pus and dribbling came back. By this time I had adopted Rascal from her and took him to my vet. He was prescribed Baytril and the symptoms cleared up (still dribbling a little though). A few weeks later the dribbling came back. Dr. S checked his urine for crystals and found none, but there was lots of infection. We got a refill and the dribbling decreased again (still dribbling some). Now the dribbling has come back again. Wednesday I took him back to my vet thinking he must have stones. There were also traces of blood in his urine. She ran an X-ray on him which didnt show signs of any stones, so she scheduled an ultrasound for him this morning. On a good note she said all his organs looked good. Then Thursday night the pus came back. This morning he went in for his ultrasound. No stones were seen this time either, but she did see a circular mass by his bladder. My heart dropped. She also said that his kidneys looked like those of an older ferret, not a 2 or 3 year old. Throughout all this Rascal has remained the sweetest ferret ever. His energy level is so high, and he wants nothing more than to play his little heart out- chasing Princess, batting balls, bouncing around and chattering constantly. Aside from the urinary problems, youd never know that anything was wrong with him. The vet believes it is either lymphoma or aggressive cell carcinoma, but she wont be sure until the radiologist gets back with her- hopefully no later than Monday. In the meantime, hes been prescribed .25 ml twice a day of Baytril. I have spent the day looking up info on the internet and getting more and more depressed. (So far I havent been able to find any miracle cures or any sites telling me not to worry- that everything will be alright- thats what I really want to hear.) The doctor mentioned that one can be treated with medicines and the other with chemo. I have found a quite a few articles on lymphoma, but I havent been able to find anything on the aggressive cell carcinoma. Does anyone know the difference? Is there anything I can be doing that will help him? Does anyone that has experienced this have any suggestions? Did medicines, chemo, surgery, anything help??? I would greatly appreciate any advice. I feel so horrible right now, but I am trying to remind myself that no matter what, Rascal is not is some pet store not being treated and he is in a place where he is loved, spoiled and getting lots of kisses and attention. Please keep my little guy in your thoughts. Thanks, Tara [Posted in FML issue 4702]