From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2008-04-06 16:42:55 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Serious problem with 15 month old
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
15 months old and only one node up makes me think
that first of all you need to consider possible allergy
perhaps with a secondary bacterial infection, but
there might be other possibilities. Usually with
lymphoma that shows up in the lymph nodes you
expect more than one node to be swollen and hard.
What is the body temp of this ferret? Over 103'F?
CBC and Chemistry Panel could be useful.
I put together I few comments (and these are just
NON-scientifically collected and randomly recalled
so remember that all-important grain of salt) for
someone else on the FML, so will just throw these
out there in case they might help anyone
Not having asked her permission to quote her I will
paraphrase where she had been quoted:
She had heard that chemo works less well if Pred had
been used before, and I wrote:
Is there an actual mechanism for that, a postulated
mechanism, or is it just speculation? The reason I
ask is because I have a vague recollection of hearing
that once before but only as a speculation by a ferret
person, not as anything any oncologist has postulated
or explained so I'd like to know more about the concept.
She mentioned being fortunate and having a ferret who
has gone into remission after use of the Tuft's Protocol
so I replied:
Even in the early years there were some individuals who
were reported as going into remission. I haven't followed
the later ones but the earlier ones fit into four camps:
1. Some had spontaneous remissions.
2. Some may never have had lymphoma in the first place,
but may have instead had chronic infections because they
never had biopsies, only visual exams and blood work.
There are some infections and other health problems which
also drive up white counts in blood work so the vet who HAD
postulated that lymphoma could be diagnosed that way did
some back-pedaling later and tried hard to re-educate people.
BTW, there is even one condition (myofasciitis) that drives the
white blood cell count up a lot higher than lymphoma does.
People here can read more about that here:
http://www.smallanimalchannel.com/ferrets/ferret-health/emerging-disease-dim.aspx
or
http://www.smallanimalchannel.com/media/ferrets/ferret-health/emerging-disease-
dim.aspx.pdf
3. One remission was attributed to an herbal preparation.
4. Some who were treated with chemo protocols went into
remission (but not anywhere as many as seem to be reported
to apparently be doing so with Dr. Joerg Mayer's Tuft's gentler
Chemo Protocol for ferrets with lymphoma. Dr. Mayer will be
speaking in the November IFC Symposium:
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
specifically
http://www.ferretcongress.org/sym2008/default.html
The ferrets in the early years who went into remission in
those early years were pretty much invariably ferrets who were
in their primes, usually about 3 years old plus or minus a bit
more than a year. Remember that is NOT carefully collected
data but is just based on what a few people shared from their
own experiences so it must be taken with a boulder of salt,
though it may be worth keeping in the back of one's head as
something that warrants a more thorough look. Certainly, in
humans age can affect some malignancies, with some worse
at older ages and some worse at younger ages.
She mentioned a high rate of lymphoma among her ferrets and
I commented:
Lymphoma has been our single most common cause of ferret
deaths, largely because we have had two bouts of the clumping
form of lymphoma which may be caused by a viral exposure
approximately 3 years (again, it is over a range of time) before
the lymphoma appears. To learn more:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG8921
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/PDF/Lymphoma_Ferrets.pdf
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG2260
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
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