From:
williamsdvm@comcast.net
Date: 2003-06-11 02:31:03 UTC
Subject: RE: Hayley and lymphoma
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <3780901.1055298663520.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
Dear Connie:
I'm not crazy about the idea of aspirin in a ferret with suspected lymphoma, as diminishing organ function can increase the toxicity of this drug.
However, Pediapred may help in the short term at a dosage of 2 mg/lb daily. Without knowing her weight, I can't give you a precise dosage, but it may be as much as 1 cc (pediapred comes in 6.7 mg/5 ml (about 1.25 mg/ml). This may help for a short time, but if we are dealing with lymphoma here, it usually overcomes the steroids in 2-4 months, perhaps less in cases where infiltration of systemic organs has already occurred.
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
Author wrote:
> A few months ago I noticed a knot in her neck and a knot under her arm. I
> know that these are lymphoma signs. She now has a small marble sized lump under
> her arm, another the same size in her groin and the irregular shaped nodule
> in her neck. > Chemo isn't an option as I've heard it to be quite expensive. It doesn't
> seem like that always helps anyway.
> Tonight I started her on pediapred, which I will give to her twice daily. Is
> there anything else I can do to keep her around longer? What else can I
> expect? I'm sure that eventually her organs will shut down and she'll be gone.
> I have already lost 5 ferrets in the last year. 4 died as results or illness
> or post surgery and 1 died in an accident. It used to be so much fun having
> ferrets, but it's about to break me mentally and physically! I just hate
> being so sad and watching my babies slowly (or sometimes quickly) die.