From:
PALOSZOO@aol.com
Date: 2001-05-02 08:12:00 UTC
Subject: Partial Hepatectomy
I brought my teenage (literally) ferret Goomer in today to be put
down. Aside
from being blind, he's always been incredibly and surprisingly
healthy, but
he started getting lethargic a few days ago and for the last few
nights I've
had to administer fluids and hand feed him. I palpated his abdomen
and felt a
rather large tumor. Considering his very old age, I decided that
euthanizing
him would be best. After talking with my partner/vet we decided to
do
exploratory to see what kind of tumor it was, figuring we would end
up
putting him down before he woke up. I'm sorry if that whole
situation offends
anyone, but I'm the type who needs to know the reason when it's not
obvious,
even if the outcome is.
What we found was a tumor the size of a squished tangerine on the
lobe of
Goomer's liver. It was well-defined. After looking for signs of
other
problems such as insulinoma, adrenal disease, etc and finding all
healthy
organs, we decided to remove the tumor and allow Goomer to wake up.
We were
in and out in 20 minutes. He's been up for several hours and
although he's
somewhat lethargic, is eating and drinking. His color is much better
too. As
much as I adore Goomer, I have mixed feelings about doing a surgery
on a
ferret this old. This is only the second hepatectomy my vet has
performed.
The first was on a cat 18 months ago and it just recently returned
within the
last month due to metastasis.
Do any vets out there have any experience with this type of
tumor/surgery? My
vet has no idea what to expect in Goomer's future. All he's said is
"let's
wait and see." Can anyone shed any more light on this for me?
Thanks!
Kim Schilling