From:
"Meryl Faulkner"
Date: 2008-10-14 20:28:36 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] What could a small movable lump under skin right side of spine be?
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Felicity a five year old ferret is going for a vet visit tomorrow morning.
Today while stroking her and then running my hand down her sides, I
felt a small (soft pea sized) lump under her skin over her rib cage
1/2inch to the right of her spine. It's half way between her front
legs and hind legs. It felt soft, and felt movable.I am wondering if
it has been there all along, or if it is (crossing my fingers)some
kind of cyst, abscess, or (hopefully not) some kind of lymph node. Can
lymphoma start or present with this kind of cyst like object?
About two weeks ago she appeared to get less active have not wanting
to climb or beg. Her blood sugar was 80. I took her in after a couple
of days, and my veterinarian examined her, found nothing obvious, but
said radiograph showed a space at her sacro-lumbar area (or was it
lumbo-sacral - I forget),and that her blood glucose was not low enough
for insulinoma.
She asked if we had trodden on her, or if she had fallen. she
mentioned her legs bowed unusually when she walked, and she thought
there might have been some kind of trauma. Both my room mate and I
were mystified. She is a climber, and we hypothesized that she could
have fallen off his bathroom counter (she chimneys up using the
cupboard drawers and pushes his radio onto the floor to make a bang).
the other thought was a fall, or finally since it has been very windy
here over the last couple of weeks, that a door closed on her.
Although I would have thought if there were a big door slam she would
likely have been killed. We were told to keep her from climbing and
not let her go up and down stairs. She gradually has become more
active, and apart from her neck fur getting a little thin.
She has improved and although not back to begging, she now runs and
climbs stairs pretty normally. However, I'm wondering if it could be
something to do with her back problem, although this does not feel
like it's a bony object. I tried the archives with "movable
subcutaneous lumps" but got nothing. Now (since I've had ferrets for
many years) I'm worried.I wondered since I'm going to be worrying for
the next 14 hours if anyone had any words of wisdom - or comfort!!Now
I'm wishing I examined her skin areas more regularly with my
fingertips. When just stroking her it's not palpable. We have had a
new ferret in the last month who has been biting everyone, but we
haven't noticed any blood on the bitees.
Meryl
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