From:
"Tressie"
Date: 2011-06-15 00:00:39 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Undiagnosed blood in urine.
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
There is an awful going on with this little guy and some parts of your story are confusing.
You've had two diagnoses of lymphoma from two different veterinarians, and then state that another Avian veterinarian did not understand why the veterinary surgeon didn't offer a diagnose or offer treatment. However, you said he had in fact diagnosed lymphoma and found a number of masses and evidence of metastases??? It seems that you are dismissing that diagnosis and looking for other causes for the problems that are now manifesting.
The initial veterinarian offered to euthanize your ferret as a kindness because lymphoma is not curable. You weren't ready to let your ferret go at that time. Your own veterinarian put him on prednisolone, which is part of a chemo protocol designed to optimistically put him into temporary remission or at least give him some quality of life. However, the outcome was inevitable that he would become sicker and sicker, which is what has happened.
I am not sure whether it is because you are very upset with a seriously ill ferret and are therefore, seemingly not acknowledging information that you yourself are providing.
The reality of what might be going on is that his cancer is advancing as it was bound to do. With a number of masses confirmed in his body at least 3 months ago, which by now have most certainly spread and grown, it is not surprizing that he is having substantial complications and quite probably is experiencing some internal bleeding.
I am confident that your vet is treating your little one as a palliative care patient, which is all anyone can do for him given the seriousness and fatal outcome of lymphoma.
I am very sorry that you are going through this with a beloved ferret. Many of us have experienced that heartache. The best thing you can do for him is to continue to love him and have the courage when his quality of life has disappeared to make the decision to let him go.
Here is a link to an article written by Dr. Williams, which has helped numerous people dealing with lymphoma:
http://www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/PDF/Lymphoma_Ferrets.pdf
Tressie
...I'm going to be bringing him in to check his PCV level soon and am really searching for a clearer understanding of what might be going on with the blood loss or at the very least explore more options about what I can do for the anemia. I'm very lucky how stable he is with the original life expectancy his surgeon gave me...but I'd like to do more for him if I can.
>
> Thank you for taking the time to read this.
>
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