Hello everyone! Hope everyone and their little ones are doing well. I noticed how a few other people were mentioning that they hadn't had many responses to their questions - I'm one of those folks - I think the recent unfortunate incident in California (my family's condolences to Pat Wright) has caused a fair amount of other topics to take the back burner. I know that with my situation and it's rarity, there just might not be anyone out there with information to give me, but I thought I'd post Buster's medical results one more time to see if anyone has any advice on how to proceed and/or what to expect for my little one. Thanks in advance! ************************************************************************ Hi again - well, we went back to the vet's today to have Buster's stitches removed. No problem, however, he did nip the vet - "Take that, you big meanie!!" oops. Anyways, I got the biopsy information from the vet and here are the results. The first part is the more basic stuff and the second part is the more medical, high-tech stuff. Diagnosis: MAMMARY ADENOCARCINOMA Comments: Mammary adenocarcinomas are relatively rare in ferrets and there is little published information on their biological behaviour. A single case report of a malignant tumour is reported several years ago. We are therefore unable to offer any accurate prognosis. The tumour is relatively well differentiated which, in most species, suggests a relatively benign growth habit. Exactly the opposite is true in the cat. Description: The mammary tumour is a well differentiated mammary adenocarcinoma. It is a multilobular expansive but apparently not infiltrative epithelial tumour composed of small nests of fibrous connective tissue but desmoplasia is not obvious. The cells are relatively well diffentiated and show approximately one per high power field. The resident mammary tissue in the surrounding tissue was compressed and pushed aside by this mass. ***** Okay, now the second sentence of the description I find pretty confusing because of the detail they go into describing what it *isn't*. Makes me wonder if there's a grammar error in there somewhere. I will clarify this with my vet but we'll leave it for now. Does anyone out there know about a case of this type of cancer in ferrets?? It seems so rare - I know that just because there is only one documented case does not mean there haven't been others, but it makes me worry even more because I have no idea what to expect. I did unfortunately find another growth like this one on his other side around his nipple - smaller but it came up fast. It wasn't noticed two and a half weeks ago when my vet examined him before his surgery. I don't know what to do - I can't afford tons of vet bills and I can't let him suffer either. I don't know if putting him through the stress of surgery would be worse in the long run or what. If it's spreading as quickly as it seems to be, I might be fighting a losing battle. I need some advice QUICK!!!!! Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks for listening. George, Jasper and the Tribe (especially Buster) ************************************************************************ Georgette Peters Nothing is fool-proof to a Steacie Science Library sufficiently talented fool. York University 4700 Keele Street ***** North York, Ontario ********* M3J 1P3 ***** (416)736-5084 Dook, dook, bjork, bjork! e-mail - [log in to unmask] - Swedish Ferret ************************************************************************ [Posted in FML issue 2187]