From:
"greensky042"
Date: 2009-04-16 07:38:38 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Weird question about Cancer
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
This is weird, but I have to ask. My 4 yr old girl Zoe, has a squamous cell carcinoma tumor in her mouth. It is getting large, and her breath is horrible. There is no cure for her, unless we were to take part of her jaw off, and I won't do that to her. My husband keeps getting on me about kissing her on her face. I'm not kissing her on her lips anymore, but I do kiss her on the other side of her face and on her head.
Now I know cancer isn't contagious, and you can't catch it from someone else, but my husband is concerned. Here's why. Zoe's mouth will leak, and it gets a bit crusty on her fur where it leaks and then dries when she's curled up sleeping. So when she gets up or after she eats, she rubs her mouth on the carpet or blanket. My husband is concerned that those cancer cells in her mouth, can get into or on us or the other ferrets and blend into our cells. Is that possible? My husband's Mother died from cancer, so he's a little paranoid of things like that.
When Zoe takes her meds from the syringe, some of the soup will leak out her mouth and back into the soup bowl. Is it ok for the others to eat from the same bowl? Zoe is losing weight slowly and doesn't play anymore, but she does still eat kibble, but I usually soften some for her also. Some days she's up quite a bit walking around and sleeping with the boys, and other days she's sleeping all day and sleeping alone. Unless I actually touch her mouth, she doesn't seem to be in any pain. When I see she's lost too much weight or that she's in pain, I will have to put her to sleep. Zoe is curently on 1 ml of prednisolone twice a day, and a cancer drug called DCA, which I believe has helped her.
So can cancer cells from a ferret pass from food or saliva be transfered to someone else? And does that mean they too will get cancer?
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