From:
"pigleeownee"
Date: 2011-12-01 12:53:45 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Lymphoma Chemo Update and Viral Possibility
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hi Everyone. I wanted to update that 1 week after 1/2 tab of 25mg cytoxan and .5 ml prednisolone 5mg/ml suspension 2 times daily, Emmy's peripheral lymph nodes and tonsil are shrinking and she had noticable improvement in energy. She has lost .2 ounces in weight from her abdomen shrinking. Her abdomen now looks squishy and normal rather than a stretched balloon. She did have side effects from the cytoxan. 6 Days after her dose she became feverish and lethargic. Her appeitite wasn't as strong but she did not lose it completely-we just added in more soup feedings. The vet put her on a strong amoxi antobiotic and she was feeling much better by morning. Still ran a temperature but she was motoring around as normal and enjoying life again that next day. The vet said the next round of cytoxan (in about a week depending on her WBC), we will only give her 1/4 tab of cytoxan due to the side effects she experienced.We also will take her down on the pred this upcoming Tuesday (2 weeks after being on such a high dose).
I noticed my other ferret Daisy to have what looked to be fat pads on her neck. She is a thin ferret so I felt and found enlarged nodes under her arms, and inside her right thigh. The vet confirmed this yesterday along with cytology on one of the nodes in her thighs. She does have lymphoma now as well. I believe he said the cytology showed a lot of lymphoblasts. We caught her lymphoma early and it is considered mild. We put her on .25 ml of 5mg/ml prednisolone 2 times daily (She weighs only 1.8 lbs.) We are saving the cytoxan for down the road when the pred is no longer working.
So out of my three ferrets I lost one this time last year to lymphoma and now my two girls at the same time (same age of 6) have been diagnosed. I have had 6 ferrets prior then these 3 girls and one had lymphoma and did very well for years but the others never got it. Do we think this is coincidence or should we wonder a bit more if this could be viral at times? I included so much info because if another ferret mom or dad wants to look up our experiences with the chemo drugs this might be helpful.
Diane
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