From:
"Ulrike"
Date: 2008-06-04 13:32:45 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Lymphoma, treatment, chemo ... questions
To: "FHL" <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
I hope this won't get too long. The ferret is Daisy, 6 years old, spayed.
Beginning of April she suddenly started having balance problems, when
running she would veer to the right a lot. She was put on prednisolone, 0.5
mg bid. After a few weeks she started to compensate for this veering to the
right and was able to run pretty straight. Only when she stood still she
would lean to the right to the point where she sometimes stumbled.
She then got worse again 2 days ago. Monday she suddenly had really bad
balance problems and stumbled around, not just to the right but also to the
left now. Yesterday, Tuesday, she had x-rays at the vets which showed the
probably cause was lymphoma. The x-ray showed many enlarged lymph nodes/
tumours (?) in her abdomen and chest. One is pushing intestines up. The
chest looks so bad with so many growths (?) that my vet wondered why she
didn't have problems breathing. The thymus (?) is pushing the heart up.
She had a coughing episode earlier which reminded me that every now and
again she has a really bad cough suddenly, I never knew what to think of it
and it was so infrequently that I forgot about it but now it makes sense. I
felt her lymph nodes by her back legs and they are enlarged and hard, not
soft and packed in fat.
She is still happy, has a good appetite and is still interested in running
around. This morning she went out into the garden through the cat flap and
had a run, she doesn't act sick, the only noticeable symptom is that she's
stumbling around more than running normally. But she gets around and enjoys
herself.
I've got a lot of questions now and would be interested in hearing from
anybody who has had a ferret with the same illness and symptoms.
* Is it likely that the cancer has gone into her brain?
* I suppose you need to confirm lymphoma by biopsy before doing chemo?
* Is there any possibility that chemo (Tufts protocol) could work
considering how advanced it is and how it is possibly in her brain?
* For the time being, Daisy (who weighs 900 g) is on 2 mg prednisolone bid.
Is that dose right?
* My vet was worried about the possibility of it being caused by a virus.
She said now that Daisy is on a high dose of steroids, she may shed the
virus (if it is a virus), and suggested I keep her on her own now. I think
this is what can happen in cats? Is it also true for ferrets? Saying that,
I believe a virus is unlikely because Daisy and her father Nipper never had
contact to other ferrets but mine.
This is the first time I have had to deal with lymphoma. I had one case of
juvenile lymphoma and I had a few ferrets where lymphoma was diagnosed
coincidentally during autopsy/ histopathology but no adult ferret that was
clinically ill with lymphoma.
Ulrike
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