I read that it's said the protocol usually has no effect if a ferret has already been on Pred; however, I sucessfully got a ferret to go into remission with Tufts protocol who was already on Prednisone, we just stopped giving it to her the day she started chemo. I know we were one of the lucky ones. As an owner who has had nearly all of my personal (and rescue ferrets) pass away of lymphoma as opposed to any other disease, I am not surprised by your numbers. Also I wonder if you have noticed the difference between ones that can be saved with Tufts and those who don't have a chance - my little boy Data started getting ill, and we thought he was just depressed after having his adrenal surgery and not eating. So we fed him by hand and gave him some love and waited the week until the vet was going to be able to see him (he was "out"). He ended up having lymphoma, although there was no telltale tumor. Upon the vet finding it, I palpated it and it was perhaps the size of a grain of rice, deep inside his abdomen. All of my previous encounters with lymphoma have had either a ping-pong sized tumor grown overnight (in various areas - the removable kind near the armpit, and the unremovable one in the intestines). I have found that if the lymphoma is in the abdomen, Tufts will not help. Have you had any success with intestinal or abdominal tumors being stopped by the Tufts protocol? Data was thought to be too far gone for us to try it with him. He was also dehydrated no matter what we did - something about lymphoma in the abdomen, I've noticed it is almost impossible to keep them hydrated and the ferret needs to be put to sleep in a few days. I've tried both SQ saline and LRS. Basically - the ferrets who have tumors in the abdomen have been unsaveable for me, as they usually have to be put to sleep or have passed on before we can even get the protocol drugs ready. At what health point does a ferret need to be at to start the protocol? I was told that with Data being so weak (he was recieving fluids every other hour, but had some good weight to him - we made sure he was being fed every other hour as well)....I was told Tufts would probably kill him, and I was on the fence, 50/50 - he had fluid accumulating in his abdomen. I wonder now if I should have just tried it, I have heard differing accounts from people about Tufts used on ferrets in his condition. He had very, very strong vitals and he was only three. I feel like I made the wrong decision, but after a week of trying to have him keep on living, force feeding him, watching how miserable he felt, having to have more and more fluids given to him - I think I would have also been devasted to make his life even MORE painful by adding chemo drugs and making him feel awful if it didn't work, and possibly passing away in anguish. I am sure I will encounter this situation again, so any insight or trends you have noticed would be a huge help to me and I am sure, other ferret owners struggling to make these decisions. Thank you sincerely, Laryssa [Posted in FML 5934]