To Dale Miller concerning splenomegaly: Dale - I am glad that you consulted the FAQ - it is an excellent source of medical material for both you and your vet. Concening your question: >Our vet--who sees a number of ferrets and with whom we have always >been very highly sat- isfied--has our ferret scheduled for an X-ray >next week. He said that if the spleen is lumpy it will need to be >removed, but that if it is smooth this will likely not be necessary. Dale - it is very uncommon for ferret spleens to be bumpy - they are invariably smooth and enlarged. This does not mean that smooth spleens should not be examined fully. I am not in favor of radiographs as the sole test for splenic evaluation - all thorough evalsuations should include either a splenic aspirate with a syringe and needle, or a surgical biopsy, wither of which should be evaluated by a veterinary pathologist. Concerning your question about reading the slide, unfortunately, due to the large number of cases that are currently arriving at the AFIP for consultation on ferrets (5-6 day), I have had to cut back on the types of cases that we are now accepting (the number of ferret cases is choking the system, not to mention the expense for processing all of these cases.) Cases that we are no longer soliciting include the following: routine biopsies of islet cell tumors, adrenal glands, and unfortunately, splenic biopsies. We have, or are in the process of publishing on the first two, and have gone about as far as we can in our teaching program with this type of material (you can only look at so many islet cell tumors before they lose their teaching potential). We are still currently accepting all other cases from practitioners at no charge, including skin tumors, autopsy specimens, etc. Sorry that I can't handle your case, but I would still highly recommend that any specimens be sent to a veterinary pathologist for examination. Bruce Williams, DVM Department of Veterinary Pathology [log in to unmask] Armed Forces Institute of Pathology OR [log in to unmask] Washington, D.C. 20306-6000 (202) 782-2600/2602 [Posted in FML issue 1153]