I took in a senior female....sad update - 6/9/11

[maharg]

I took in a 6.5 year old female, and a 5.5 year old female from a young woman who was struggling with some significant issues including employment and housing.
She was not able to afford needed vet care for her ferrets. The girls had been with this woman since they were kits. I think at one time she really did try to care for them well as she did take them to the vet for some needed evaluations and care.
I think she has been dealing with personal issues recently and that led to her not being as attentive to the ferret's care over the past few months.

She said she was not in a position to afford surgery that Lola has needed for quite some time. More recently, she was even more unable to care for the ferrets financially as she lost her job. She is also moving in with relatives and they told her she could not bring the ferrets.

She was desperate to find them a home.

Lola, the 6.5 year old, was diagnosed with adrenal disease over a year ago. This was confirmed by a Tennessee blood panel and she had an ultrasound that showed the tumor is on the left adrenal gland. Lola did have a few shots of Lupron but it was not consistently given every month as was recommended. She has a very swollen vulva, she is thin but, surprisingly, she has just minimal amount of hair loss.

She has been dealing with a fluid filled cyst on her left side for about two years. It was diagnosed as a cyst back in 2009. The former owner opted not to have it removed due to cost of surgery. Surgery to remove it was the recommended treatment back in 2009. Over the years, it has grown larger and larger. Fluid was drawn off every few months, according to the former owner.
The paperwork she gave me does document that 30cc's was drawn off one time and 60 cc's was drawn off another time.
According to the former owner, just this week, the cyst opened up and it is now a dark pink spongy weeping sore. it is probably the size of a half dollar coin.
It looks more like a tumor now than it does a cyst.

Lola also has another mass on her right side by her front leg. It is a wart like mass. She scratches at it with her back foot and it bleeds. That is about the size of a quarter.

I cleaned both areas last night and clipped fur from around them so they can stay cleaner.

Before I even got Lola here I scheduled her an appointment on June 9th for a full evaluation. I made it on a day that the Vet also had an opening for surgery. I planned on having Lola get adrenal surgery if she is a candidate for it. She may go in sooner now that I have seen this "cyst".

This is the one her right side --the Wart like one-- prior to cleaning:



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This is the "cyst"-like one prior to cleaning:



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The wart like one after cleaning and clipping of fur:



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And the cyst one after cleaning and clipping of fur:



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I am sure both of the masses will need to be removed.

In the mean time, any thoughts?
Keep them open to the air?
Has anyone had a cyst rupture and look like this afterward?

I am keeping the areas clean using a cleaning solution and I am using silver sulfadiazole cream to try and prevent infection.

Thanks for reading this.
PS the 5.5 year old girl seems to be in wonderful shape. whew!

[fearless]

Wow I've never seen anything like it and have only seen cyst on horses... in which case they usually are under the skin and need to be drained, these definitely look ruptured and would need to be removed. I hope someone has some help. Good luck and thank you for taking in these poor girls in need of some medical attention! Such a self-less thing to do.

[maharg]

The wart like one, on her right side is on the surface of her skin. It does not go below her skin. It moves freely.

The so called cyst one does have some sort of stem or swelling below the skin.

The former owner said that it was not always an open weeping sore like it is now. She said that Lola did "pick" at it at times and when she did that, the area formed a scab but the round fluid filled area under the skin was present up until this week when it seems to have ruptured.

I would have not though it was a cyst either based on what it looks like now. But the summary from the vet does document that she had a fluid filled cyst.

And the sad thing is the first vet summary says it was only 1 cm by 1/2 cm and they only got .3 cc's of fluid out of it.
The later summary said it was 6 cm by 4 cm's and they took out 60 cc's of fluid.
If only it had been removed early on she wouldn't have to be dealing with this yucky thing today.

[shilohismygirl]

Correct me if I am wrong Sherry, but can't Reshi mushrooms be used to help bring masses like that down? Maybe you can give more details? I don't have a ton of advice to give but, I would like to thank you for taking these girls in even though they were seniors with health issues. Thank you so much, because kind souls like you make the world go round. Anyway, a lot of people on here do not do the surgery and do lupron because the surgery often does not keep the cancer away for good-BUT, it is a completely personal decision based on what you think is best for your girlies and your financial situation and everything.

[maharg]

Thanks Shilo. I will research mushrooms while I wait for Sherry to see this. I recall reading something awhile back.
As for Adrenal surgery vs treating with Lupron...
I will see what Doc says. He feels the adrenalectomy is the best course to take when a ferret is a good candidate for surgery. He does hundreds of surgeries per year on ferrets. I am sure we will weigh the risks, consider her age etc.
I am going to ask him about the Des implant. He is supposed to get them back in stock in June/July.

[Heather]

Personally, I would see to use that surgery to remove those cysts rather than stress her body more to have an adrenal surgery done. The tumours need to be seen to, time, the time she has left could be better served by the use of lupron or des. It's just my personal opinion but in my experience you have maybe another 4 yrs that you can buy your newly adopted girl. Considering the costs of surgery, the risk of surgery those costs on both parts could be better spent to give her comfort and might actually give her a longer life. I know that there are vets out there who are very good at the adrenal surgeries but considering the chance of recurrance within a very short period of time and the age of the ferret those would be considerations that are high on my thoughts
That being said, congratulations and thank you for taking in these two lovely senior ladies. You are a truly wonderful person and these little ladies will be forever thankful. Thank you and good luck
ciao

[miamiferret2]

Thank you and bless your heart for taking them in! I LOVE old ferrets.
Heather has given you good advice. Spend your money removing those cysts first. I would start her on Melatonin and lupron to treat the Adrenal tumors for now. I don't do Adrenal surgeries on my ferrets.

[miamiferret2]

I get reishi mushroom capsules from new chapter Organics. The bottle reads "life shield." Looks like she definitely needs to have those removed surgically. But I'd give to her reishi in soupies to (hopefully) assist in treatment and prevent new ones.

[maharg]

I for sure will have the tumors removed surgically and I will talk to my vet about managing the adrenal with des or lupron.

[ponyolovesham]

I know people have said this already but from me I wanna say again, thank you so much for rescuing those girls Atleast now they can live out their days in comfort and warmth.

[Sherry]

Definitely have the cysts removed first. Then start her on reishi mushrooms to help keep them from coming back. Get her started on lupron for the adrenal, IMO it does a wonderful job without the added stress of being opened up, especially at her age. Deslorelin would be good as well, but from what I understand, it takes several weeks to "kick in"
Can't copy the link right now, but check in the medical stickies, there is a section about a benign tumor growth that got much larger than those ones, and they were helped tremendously by the reishi.
Good luck with these babies!

[trippyferret]

The wart-like one is definitely a mast cell. I had a guy with a couple of those on his tail, and they were in a very inoperable spot. We treated him with Reishi mushrooms, and I can attest to the fact that they DO work. They don't get rid of the mass, but they act as an antihistamine, keeping it from itching and becoming a bloody, scabby mess. Daemeon's tumors did shrink and healed beautifully, but they never did fully go away. Another thing you can do is put a cortisone cream on it temporarily. Usually mast cell tumors aren't cancerous in ferrets, but you could have a biopsy done to see just in case.
That poor baby. Bless you for taking her in.

[Sherry]

Here's one link for you:
www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/Sebep/sebep.html
And here's one on a massive tumor, and the reishi treatment used for it:
holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=vetting&thread=652&page=1

[maharg]

Lola went in for an exam this morning and then had surgery this afternoon to remove the masses on her body. She ended up having three additional small masses next to the large open one.

Lola made it through the actual surgery fine, they cleaned her up and then when the Vet Tech was holding her and getting ready to carry her to her recovery cage, Lola suddenly stopped breathing.
They tried very hard to revive her with CPR and a number of medications and but they could not bring her back.

The vet cannot say with 100% certainty but he feels that she most likely had a blood clot that went to her heart or brain because it happened so suddenly. The clot would have been from the having the surgical procedure.

The vet really felt like she was in good shape for the surgery--heart and lungs were good on exam, blood glucose was normal after a 4 hr fast.
The surgery itself was uneventful and not all that complicated, he said.

I know in my head that she needed the surgery....that she could not have lived out the rest of her life with that open tumor. However, my heart hurts right now and I am second guessing. Not rational thinking, I know, but it is just so hard.

I do wish the previous owner had had her cyst/tumor removed when it was tiny, two YEARS ago. Perhaps things would have turned out differently.

I only had her a few weeks but I got quite attached to her. The oldies and "special needies" have a way of stealing my heart. She and I spent quite a bit of time together. She never complained when I tended to her medical needs, she loved playing in the rice box, she loved going into the tunnels and she LOVED sleeping in her numerous sleep sacks and cushy hammocks.
(Her old cage was not so nice. It was dirty, had one ratty nylon hammock and no toys.)

While she was here she had tender loving care, lots of love and kisses, a spacious clean cage and good food.
I am glad that I was able to give her those things. I do wish I had been given more time to get to know her even better.

She was a lovely old girl. I will miss her much.

[Heather]

I'm so sorry that your wee one didn't make it through surgery. It happens so often. Don't try and second guess yourself. This surgery had to happen, she couldn't have continued without it. She had shown a positive pre op. You gave her such a wonderful gift and she now walks and dances proudly with her heart key. A candle is lit to guide her wee paws onto her next great adventure. She is happy, she has known gentle caring, a soft touch and voice....she has known love. You offered her a great gift....a piece of yourself. Thank you.
Gentle journey, sweet little girl, you are missed
ciao