From:
Lisa Shortley
Date: 2001-11-14 12:26:00 UTC
Subject: Cancer of the bile duct?
Hi,
I was wondering if anyone on here has heard of a ferret who died from
cancer of the bile duct? I have not received the pathology report
from my ferret's necropsy yet (he died Monday morning, necropsy
prefomred immediately after). She said that she'd never heard of
this in a ferret but has seen it in cats and dogs.
Anyway, he became very very sick very suddenly around 8:00 Sunday
night, was vomitting, wimpering, and wobbly. Prior to Sunday, he was
not off his food and was eating great - poops in the litter pan
looked perfect too.
I called my vet and took him in as an emergency. His x-ray showed
his stomach was empty and so were his intestines, but they were all
bunched up on one side of his body very tightly. He was in pain when
she palped him. His sodium/potassium ratio was 30.8 (normal and not
related to Addison's). His glucose was a 58 (assumed due to the
vomitting and empty stomach). His liver and kidney values were
slightly elevated. But he was jaundiced. His weight was 2.6 lbs -
normal for him. She kept him overnight and he continued to wretch
and have diarrhea. She started him on Flagyl. At 9AM, she called
and said that he seemed to perk up when she gave him fluids, but then
he'd have clear diarreha shortly after. She wanted to cath him in
hopes of keeping him hydrated until the antibiotics started working
on whatever his infection was (she assumed liver infection due to the
yellowing and elevated liver values).
By 10AM, she called and told me she didn't like how he looked - he'd
taken a turn for the worse. I went to spend time with him. He was
completely yellowed. His arms and legs were purpled. He was in
shock and wimpering in pain. She ran a packed cell volume and it was
normal. She did an ultrasound to rule out a possible gull stone
blocking him - it was clear. She called Dr Weiss in Maryland to
consult. They both assumed a very sudden and distructive cancer.
She came back in with me and his heart was growing faint. He was in
so much pain and she told me he was dying. I think he would have
died within minutes, but I couldn't let him suffer even for that
long. I held him as she gave him the injection to allow him to be in
peace. He died within seconds of that.
He had adrenal surgery 8/11 and was given a clean bill of health.
His insides looked great. The surgeon said that something like this
can just errupt out of nowhere or have been inside of an organ and
undetectable from the outside.
Anyway, I had to know what went wrong and couldn't just accept, "it
might have been cancer". She did his necropsy within 20 minutes of
his death.
She found that his bile duct (I may have misheard her now that I
think about it...do ferrets have a "bowel" duct?)...it was thickened
and appeared to be full of cancer. She never saw this before and
sent it out for pathology to confirm.
She also found that his stomach was riddled with ulcers - eaten clear
through his stomach wall.
She and the vet she consulted with have never seen bile (or bowel?)
duct cancer in ferrets and I was wondering if anyone on here has?
Are his symtoms at time of death conclusive with something like this?
Thanks for any input.
Lisa Shortley