Post by Deleted on Jan 24, 2015 22:53:59 GMT -5
I would like some feed back from anyone who has dealt with lymphoma. This isn't for one of my ferrets but for my skunk Basil. There isn't a lot of information about this in skunks or many people who have had their skunk have it. So I thought I would see if I could gather some information from here.
Here is what has transpired in the past two weeks. On Sunday Jan 11th I came home from the grocery store and one of my dogs got ahold of the bag with the steak in it and started ripping it apart. She chewed the corner of the steak package as well. I opened the steak to try and salvage it for at least the animals and cut off a piece and gave it to Basil who was sharking me for food. A bit later I caught him ripping up the plastic grocery bag that had steak blood on it. I wasn't too concerned because I didn't think he was eating it and he had only had it a couple minutes before I caught him. That night or the next night he threw up in my room (I can't remember which day it was anymore)there was a piece of superworm and some partially digested steak in it. Monday and Tuesday he threw up again and by Tuesday wasn't acting like himself. He had a raw egg Tuesday night and kept that down. I started worrying that it was a blockage and Wednesday morning gave him coconut oil and then pumpkin. I also made a vet appointment for the next morning in case he didn't pass the pumpkin or bag. When I went to bed that night I found out he had thrown up the pumpkin in my bed.
Wednesday morning we take him to the vet and I notice in the outside light that he looked vey jaundiced. I had noticed on Wednesday evening that his mouth was yellow but I thought it was from the pumpkin. The vet takes blood and x-rays. His blood is normal except for his liver which was high and his bilirubin was 15. The x-ray showed suspicion of a blockage so we decided to just got ahead and do surgery. The vet thought that because he wasn't eating and throwing up his body was using up stored fat and over whelming the liver and that was the cause of the jaundice as a side symptom of the blockage. Well it turned out there was no blockage and his whole digestive track looked good. His liver was swollen so he decided to take a biopsy while he was in there. He was started on antibiotics and kept on fluids the rest of Thursday. We took him home that night and I syringe fed him raw egg and water to keep him hydrated. We took him back the next morning and he was put on fluids again until the closed at 4pm.
I kept up the feeding and water. They gave him two different antibiotics to take for the next seven days. He started drinking on his own Saturday and Sunday he started eating on his own. By Monday he was back to his normal self and the jaundice was going away. He is still eating, drinking and doing his normal routine. He is still healing from the surgery and biopsy but he is 99% better as far as we see. So we were thinking that he had an infection of some sort in his liver and that the antibiotics were taking care of it. The Dr. calls on Thursday with the biopsy results and says its lymphoma. We discuss it at length and I can not understand why he would be better if its cancer. The vet tried to come up with some feeble reasons but basically can't explain it and agrees with me that its odd. But he said that the pathologist was pretty set on the lymphoma.
I ordered liver support factors and Essiac and am going to get him started on that.
Now, what I would like to know specifically is what kind of symptoms did your ferret have and how did things progress?
Is it just me or does it seem odd that an animal with lymphoma would suddenly get better after having surgery, pain killers, anesthesia, fluids for only two days and antibiotics? I certainly don't know everything about this but it seems to me that he wouldn't have improved so much, especially with his body having to deal with a surgery on top of it. Any info would be appreciated.
Here is what has transpired in the past two weeks. On Sunday Jan 11th I came home from the grocery store and one of my dogs got ahold of the bag with the steak in it and started ripping it apart. She chewed the corner of the steak package as well. I opened the steak to try and salvage it for at least the animals and cut off a piece and gave it to Basil who was sharking me for food. A bit later I caught him ripping up the plastic grocery bag that had steak blood on it. I wasn't too concerned because I didn't think he was eating it and he had only had it a couple minutes before I caught him. That night or the next night he threw up in my room (I can't remember which day it was anymore)there was a piece of superworm and some partially digested steak in it. Monday and Tuesday he threw up again and by Tuesday wasn't acting like himself. He had a raw egg Tuesday night and kept that down. I started worrying that it was a blockage and Wednesday morning gave him coconut oil and then pumpkin. I also made a vet appointment for the next morning in case he didn't pass the pumpkin or bag. When I went to bed that night I found out he had thrown up the pumpkin in my bed.
Wednesday morning we take him to the vet and I notice in the outside light that he looked vey jaundiced. I had noticed on Wednesday evening that his mouth was yellow but I thought it was from the pumpkin. The vet takes blood and x-rays. His blood is normal except for his liver which was high and his bilirubin was 15. The x-ray showed suspicion of a blockage so we decided to just got ahead and do surgery. The vet thought that because he wasn't eating and throwing up his body was using up stored fat and over whelming the liver and that was the cause of the jaundice as a side symptom of the blockage. Well it turned out there was no blockage and his whole digestive track looked good. His liver was swollen so he decided to take a biopsy while he was in there. He was started on antibiotics and kept on fluids the rest of Thursday. We took him home that night and I syringe fed him raw egg and water to keep him hydrated. We took him back the next morning and he was put on fluids again until the closed at 4pm.
I kept up the feeding and water. They gave him two different antibiotics to take for the next seven days. He started drinking on his own Saturday and Sunday he started eating on his own. By Monday he was back to his normal self and the jaundice was going away. He is still eating, drinking and doing his normal routine. He is still healing from the surgery and biopsy but he is 99% better as far as we see. So we were thinking that he had an infection of some sort in his liver and that the antibiotics were taking care of it. The Dr. calls on Thursday with the biopsy results and says its lymphoma. We discuss it at length and I can not understand why he would be better if its cancer. The vet tried to come up with some feeble reasons but basically can't explain it and agrees with me that its odd. But he said that the pathologist was pretty set on the lymphoma.
I ordered liver support factors and Essiac and am going to get him started on that.
Now, what I would like to know specifically is what kind of symptoms did your ferret have and how did things progress?
Is it just me or does it seem odd that an animal with lymphoma would suddenly get better after having surgery, pain killers, anesthesia, fluids for only two days and antibiotics? I certainly don't know everything about this but it seems to me that he wouldn't have improved so much, especially with his body having to deal with a surgery on top of it. Any info would be appreciated.