From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2008-12-17 15:59:43 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Bone tumor in tail just past the base - 7 years old going on 8 - surgery or
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
We had a ferret who lost all but a stub of his tail because he was found with gangrene. In
fact, when he was being prepped at the vet's for care (starting with removal of a huge
number of ticks) his tail mostly fell right off in the vet tech's hand as they were about to
begin shaving.
He had a second op afterward because the infection was not as responsive at first to
antibiotics as would be desired and the soft tissue left was not sufficient.
Ferrets often have a lot of tissue retraction around amputations and need a large soft
tissue pad left as a result. We have encountered that with the tail, with a ferret who had
to have surgeries for syndactyly, and one whose novice mother chewed off toes when she
was newborn.
Tail or toe amputations actually are not too bad for ferrets, but position really matters, of
course.
Your problem is the question of "Will this tumor grow slowly enough that this ferret would
be better off without amputation since the ferret is 7 years of age?" I don't know the
answer (Apologies.), but I know that it depends on type, location, involvement, etc. Also, I
know that in humans how rapidly some malignancies (and I think some benign growths
but could be wrong) grow can also vary with age, some being worse when older and other
types slower when older.
Here is chordoma info since that is a possibility:
http://www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/chordoma.html
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