From:
Bruce Williams, DVM
Date: 2001-04-20 18:57:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Tumor? in ear, shrinking spleen, vet leaving!
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "K. Crassi" <ricochet@m...> wrote:
> Well, we got the ear cleaned out and I pointed out some dark areas,
almost
> like gray/black raised nodes just under the skin. She thinks they
are
> localized over-productions of melanin, perhaps a reaction to a long-
term
> inflammation, but not necessarily tumors. What *does* look like a
tumor is
> the thing we could finally see tonight now that the inflammation is
> reduced. It's way down in the ear canal, right over the eardrum.
She took
> a swab for a slide, and it's actually somewhat friable - bits of it
came
> off on the swab and she was able to put them on the slide and will
look at
> them and call me tomorrow. Whatever it is, it's highly vascular
and bleeds
> if you look at it wrong, and swabbing it didn't do anything to put
it in a
> good mood.
Without a photo, it is diffiult to tell exactly what the problem is.
Cystic ear wax (ceruminous) glands can look like little black dots,
but they generally don't cause any major problems. A true neoplasm
of the cerumonous glands looks like a growth, and wil occlude the ear
canal. Anothe possibility are dilated blood vessels (which might
explain the bleeding) or a small benign vascular tumor.
I would be interested in hearing what the slide looks like.
With kindest regards,
Bruce H. Williams, DVM, DACVP
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