From:
williamsdvm@comcast.net
Date: 2002-12-30 03:33:22 UTC
Subject: RE: Multiple Cancers...
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <9234243.1041219202345.JavaMail.root@scandium>
Author wrote:
It was then that I also decided to get an autopsy to see what was really going on with Peanut. That is when I found out that Peanut have a really huge cancerous tumor on his right adrenal gland, a small tumor on his left adrenal gland, hundreds of small tumors on his pancreas, his kidneys were really bad, his lungs had spots throughout them. And all this time I thought because of his grinding that there would be some damage to his stomach or intestines (which there weren't).
Dear Janet -
I am so sorry for your loss - I know the fight that you and Peanut put up over the last year or so.
The information that you got from the autopsy - was the tissue sent off for microscopic analysis, or is this just what the vet saw when he did the autopsy (I'm betting the latter.)
While I do not doubt the veracity of the diagnosis of a right adrenal malignancy, I question some of the other assumptions. I have never seen a pancreas with hundreds of tumors, but the pancreas does become nodular with age in the ferret - not a tumor at all but a normal old age change. The spots seen in the lung is also a very common incidental finding in ferrets known as endogenous lipid pneumonia - small accumulation of fat-filled cells just underneath the pleural surface - once again, not a neoplasm. Finally, regarding the grinding - the vast majority of ulcers are extremly small and not visible to the naked eye - but can be painful all the same.
While there may have been other causes for the grinding, such as the large right adrenal tumor, I never discount the possibility of ulcers upon gross inspection.
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM