From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2008-11-01 15:01:34 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Need advice as soon as possible
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, "lbo564" <ferretfrenzy@...> wrote:
>
> Could it be lymphoma? My friend's ferret has lymphoma and one of the
> nodes was pushing on nerves in her leg, she ended up dragging the leg,
> but could still use it to scratch with. once she got on prednisolone
> (prednisone) within a week, she was walking on her leg more with a
> slight limp. Lymphoma can be diagnosed just by the vet feeling around,
> at least that is how my vet diagnosed my friend's ferret, and that
> would be the cost of a vet office visit. Prednisolone is a 4 dollar
> prescription.
> Louise
>
Well, you really can't diagnose lymphoma just by feeling
the lump because infections also cause nodes to swell
and harden. The vet will have also used other signs when
doing the exam and determined that for that individual
lymphoma was more likely than an infection. (That is also
true for blood tests because both infections and lymphoma
can cause a marked rise in the white count in ferrets.
Usually, a very high count is more likely to be lymphoma
but there can be infections that defy that rule of thumb,
with one rare type causing levels far above what had been
seen with lymphoma, so perhaps other serious infections
have that capacity but they will also have other symptoms
and greatly limit even short term survival chances without
treatment.)
For example, other nodes may also have been inflamed
but the individual may not have had a fever. Usually (but
not always) you expect that an infection that would
inflame all of the nodes would cause a fever, so without
a temp of over 103'F if the ferret has just been very active
(or over 102'F if still) the vet would think that a ferret with
multiple nodes inflamed would be more likely to be dealing
with lymphoma than infection.
On the other hand if only one node is inflamed a regional
infection may be more likely though lymphoma is still
possible and can not be automatically discounted.
There have been cases of lymphoma mistaken to be infection
but more commonly there have been cases of infection
mistaken to be lymphoma in my reading through the decades,
so it is always wise to just recall that can happen.
How do vets test when the combination of things they see
doesn't hit them over the head as being far more likely to
be one or the other? There are options. Removing the node
and having pathology work done on it is the most reliable
method. There is an easier approach but there are ways that
method may sometimes produce false positives or false
negatives (discussed by vets in the FHL archives). Still, it
can be a useful approach and we have used it for ours. That
method is aspiration, in which a vet draws a bit of the fluid
from the node and checks it under a microscope for signs
of lymphoma vs. signs of infection.
Prednisolone is a very affordable medication for lymphoma.
The price will vary according to how much is bought.
Prednisolone and Prednisone are similar but not the same.
To use Prednisone the liver has to convert the Prednisone to
Prednisolone. As a result, if the liver is at all compromised
the ferret may not get much effect from Prednisone, but
Prednisolone may work very, very well. That is a great
reason to just go with Prednisolone instead of Prednisone.
There are also chemo approaches, the Tuft's protocol
which is discussed in the archives being gentle for chemo.
How long the ferret has with treatment varies depending
on the type of lymphoma and other factors discussed in
the past. There was even a new study in ferrets of which
lymphomas are more aggressive vs. those which are not.
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL6322
The abstract is in the FHL Archives. We've personally
encountered weeks for JL, months for other types, and as
long as 14 months for a non-JL lymphoma treated with
Prednisolone, though most of ours in that position had
about 6 quality months in them, some fewer, some more
with treatment.
This is a wonderful vet write-up on lymphoma:
http://www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/PDF/Lymphoma_Ferrets.pdf
and I recommend the easily used FHL Archives:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
Now, with all of that said, we don't even know the details on
this lump yet, so Bobbi needs to share those, though
lymphoma is among the possibilities.
On the other hand, through the years I have run into people
who by "lump" meant an injured joint, or a mast cell tumor,
or a temporary swelling from an injection, or a boil-like
infection, or a number of other things, so a wide range of
possibilities exist for the level of information that is currently
given.
Here is the URL for the wonderful and easily used FHL archives:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
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