From:
Bruce Williams, DVM
Date: 2001-08-16 22:34:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Bumps on head
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "ahinton" <ahinton@s...> wrote:
> Hi, I'm wondering if anyone out there can tell me what these bumps
on my ferrets head may be. He has one on his face right below one of
his eyes that is about the size of half a pencil eraser. It is red
and round and it is raised. It was present several months ago but
went away on it's own. This time it has not gone away and there is
another one that looks similar that has appeard on the top of his
head. He has been scratching because they both had some crusty dried
blood around them. Other than that they don't seem to cause any pain.
>
> The vet I saw today didn't know what they were and I didn't want to
put him through any unecessary anesthesia so she didn't scrape them
for a biopsy. She prescribed Trithalmic/Cortisone Opthalmic Ointment
to be put on twice daily. Apparently this is an eye ointment used in
cats? I didn't get the impression that the vet knew what was going
on and I'm hoping someone else does. He has had a mast cell tumor on
his back before that went away on it's own. Could that be what's
going on here? I want to avoid doing anything invasive but I also
want to know that these aren't something really serious.
Dear Alisa:
In this case, we are probably not dealing with anything overtly
serious, but it is likely that we are dealing with multiple neoplasms
either of sebaceous gland origin, or less likely mast cell tumors.
However, either of these tumors can get infected and serve as a
source of systemic imfection. In this case, surgical removal and
biopsy is probably the wisest move. Removing skin tumors is largely
without signifianct risk, and is not really an invasive procedure.
With kindest regards,
bruce Williams, dVM