Message Number: YG12223 | New FHL Archives Search
From: ahinton
Date: 2002-04-03 02:30:00 UTC
Subject: Unclear diagnosis

Thanks to those of you who responded about Boogie. I heard
from several people that given the straining when urinating,
it sounds like adrenal problems. Here is the latest from the
vet today:

The word from the vet today is that she is 98% sure it is
lymphoma. She said that his kidney function tests came back
normal (would this be the case if he had adrenal or
insulinoma?). His WBC count is 10,700 (normal is 7,000) and
she said that the needle aspirate test was not 100% conclusive
but that she is almost certain given the symptoms that it is
lymphoma. She said that his glands are very swollen and that
the fact he is not running a fever (temp was 103) makes her
think it is not an infection. She said that normall the temp
would be high if the infection was bad enough to make his lymp
swell. She could not feel any adrenal mass but he is a little
heavy which could make it difficult.

Could the straining to urinate be a symptom of lymphoma?
There is often urine in the litterbox, but sometimes he'll
spend a half a minute straining and not much comes out. There
has been no agression or hair loss. The vet also said that
his antibody levels are elevated (albunen, protein and
globulin). The glucose and kidney function are ok.

She started him on clavamox (amoxi) .3cc twice a day and plans
to start him on prednisone in three days if he doesn't respond
to the amoxi.

I am so concerned to hear that this could be adrenal because
she really zeroed in on lymphoma. She has treated quite a few
ferrets and consulted with her partner (who actually was not
there the day he was examined) who is a ferret specialist.
The end result was that this was narrowed down to lymphoma
although she said that they cannot be 100% certain without a
biopsy. I don't want to put him through general anesthesia if
they are that sure about sometime. I just want to be sure
this isn't adrenal.

I will bring this up with her tomorrow. Given his blood tests
it doesn't sound like they saw anything to indicate adrenal.
Is it a lot more common than lymphoma? Is surgery the only
way to determine what's going on? I don't want to put him
through invasive procedures for nothing but certainly if the
diagnosis may be wrong I want a second opinion.

Thanks for listening,

Alisa & Boogie