From:
"Nanci"
Date: 2009-01-26 04:23:21 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] GIANT head tumor...?!?!?!?!?
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Roderick is 4-5 years old; adopted from our Shelter. Last year about
this time he sprouted a lump just behind his ear. Note that the
location is directly behind the ear, not on the neck. The lump
started small, then got bigger, then got smaller. Finally it got to
about silver dollar size and perhaps 1/2" tall, with the skin so
taught that his scratching opened a hole in the middle so it looked
like some freakish donut!
When I saw Rod in May I was amazed that the lump was open but didn't
seem infected...that is, the skin looked like it was stretched to the
max but it really wasn't red and the area didn't bother him to touch.
I squeezed it a bit since it was leaking a bit of pus. What came out
was really strange: first a bit of puss, then although the fluid
continued (from clear to brown to bloody), what came out was mostly
matter. Know how a mast cell tumor will be rather lumpy, like strange
cottage cheese? That's what the tissue looked like: little globs of
tissue, seemingly not connected to anything else. Each time I removed
a bit more the skin was less stretched, so I kept going. All this
time Rod was yawning in a scruff, not making any sign of pain, then
enjoying some Ferretone. When I was done the lump was wee indeed and
within 2 days the area had healed over - no more stretched skin!
Rod took a course of amoxi just to see what would happen and we
waited. Unfortunately the lump began to grow again, once more under
the skin. So in June our vet removed the lump. He felt confident he
got all of the area to a clean edge sort of thing and Rod went on his
way. However, when he visited in September he had a large pea size
lump once more in the same spot. Sigh...
The lump didn't do too much for the last couple of months, but over
the last couple of weeks it's begun to get enormous. Rod's Dad took
him to another vet who offered to drain it; Rod was due for a visit
here so Dad thought he'd get my opinion. I was AGHAST at how large
the lump had become!!! But this time instead of feeling "lumpy" it
felt completely squishy, as if indeed made up of fluid. So I set
about seeing if I could drain anything.
When I poked in with the needle clear fluid shot out, clearly under
great pressure. I removed 20cc very quickly. The first few cc's were
clear, then it turned to brown. I removed over 40cc's in total, with
the second 20cc syringe turning red along the way. Rod is still pink
and showing no signs of blood loss, but I was nervous about how red
the syringe was. So I amazed over how much fluid was in there and how
the skin was now hanging off his head like he'd had gastric bypass
surgery and lost a ton of weight! Rod had a heaping helping of
ferretone and we did some other stuff, then I came back and looked
again: why, it sure seemed like there was more fluid in there! So I
removed another 20cc's for a total of 60 cc's, but that was it because
this time it was all red in color.
Rod left about half an hour later. By the time he left the lump had
refilled to about half the size it had been when I started, some 60
cc's ago. ?!?!?!?!? And by the time Dad sent me new photos after
they got home the lump was nearly the size it was when they arrived at
our place this evening. ????????????????????
I have photos posted here:
http://www.motorcityferrets.net/CritterPhotos/Before_3.jpg
http://www.motorcityferrets.net/CritterPhotos/Before_4.jpg
The "before" are Rod yesterday, showing how enormous this lump was.
No need for "after" pics as the lump is nearly back to the same size
already.
I can add that when I had removed all the fluid, the last of the 60
cc's, the stretched skin did feel empty of fluid and I could feel
lumps under the skin. Hard to be more descriptive, but it wasn't like
the area was totally empty of trouble once the fluid was gone - there
are lumps in there for sure.
Has anyone ever seen anything like this and/or been successful
treating it? If this thing keeps filling with fluid I'm afraid it's
going to either explode or he will simply not be able to carry it
around. Oh, and later this evening when Dad e-mailed the new shots of
how it had refilled to nearly where it was, I noticed and he mentioned
that Rod is indeed looking mighty pale now. If the area is filling up
with blood I'm not surprised, and of course that doesn't bode well at
all!!! Thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer!
Nanci
Motor City Ferrets
www.motorcityferrets.org
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