From:
"merylfaulkner"
Date: 2010-01-04 08:29:49 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Possible osteoma on ferret's head - located just above nose between eyes
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
I'm taking my ferret Babs in Monday to have her checked by my vet. I noticed a day ago that when I ran my hand over her head and down her nose she had a small bump - about 1/4inch in diameter and about 1/8-1/4inch high in the middle - above her nose between her eyes. I looked though the archives and in addition to Dr Williams' site which says an osteoma (which is what I guessed it might be) is usually benign, I looked at the MSU site referred to in one of Sukie's posts and saw some pictures of a ferret with an osteoma that looks horrendous.
I usually don't run my hand over every inch of a ferrets body, and since I have quite a few ferrets rely on general visual observations and usually pick each of them up just a few times each day. I think it just happened that I was holding her up to the light and noticed a very small change in the side profile of her face, then did the finger rub. I'll post a few pictures Monday evening when I have them resized so that it can be seen what the difference in the angle of view makes. The lump stretches the skin slightly so that the fur looks a little lighter, but it's more obvious in the photos than it is in real life probably because of the camera flash.
I'm hoping that it is an osteoma and not malignant, and am hoping some kind of palliative surgery can be done.I notice several references to osteomas in ferrets in the literature through PubMed - some in veterinary journals - but abstracts do not seem to be available which is frustrating as it would be good to know what kind of timeline/outcome is involved if surgery is not feasible.
Meryl
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
ferrethealth-digest@yahoogroups.com
ferrethealth-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ferrethealth-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/