Jeremiah's story, operation picture and pathology report
By Kerry

Towards the end of last year (2003) I felt a lump in the abdomen of one of my ferrets. As it was a Sunday I had a look on the web and found a site showing an operation on a ferret with liver cancer. The lump at this stage was about the size of a golf ball. The pictures of the diseased liver looked to be the same size and shape of the lump in my ferret’s abdomen. It was also in the same place: just below the rib cage.

On the Monday I spoke to several different vets trying to find a vet who had some knowledge of operating on ferrets. After consulting with the various vets and one vet who was especially helpful, I decided that as the lump was not bothering Jeremiah that it was best left alone. At this stage, I could feel the lump getting larger every day. Suddenly the lump stopped growing and I was hopeful that it would stay in remission.

Unfortunately in February the lump started to grow rapidly again and was obviously bothering him. It was time to have him operated on.

To be honest I really did not think that I would be bringing him home with me; I thought that once the vet went into his abdomen he would find extensive cancer and a diseased liver. Fortunately it was great news as the tumour was operable. When the vet went into his abdomen he found a large tumour on his spleen. See photograph below.

The spleen is on the left with the large round tumour on the right.

Jeremiah’s wound five days after the operation.

It has healed really well near the top but due to the vet having to cut quite close to his privates, it has been slower to heal at the bottom.

Within four days of having the operation you would never have thought that he had been operated on: he was so fit and lively, back to playing and running around (despite all my efforts to stop him).

On reflection I wish that he had been operated on sooner but life is so easy with hindsight. If he had been operated on sooner (prior to it bothering him) and he had extensive cancer I would have felt that it would have been unfair to bring him round from the anaesthetic. I would then have felt that I had condemned him to an even earlier death.

A sample of the spleen was sent off for analyse, the results are below.

SAMPLE – Spleen

DESCRIPTION – The wedge of splenic tissue examined shows congestion and patchy reticuloendothelial cell hyperplasia. There is no distinct red and white pulp division but through out the red pulp there are diffuse and focal infiltrations of round cells. This is a heterogenous cell population including clusters of small hyperchronic lympoid cells and foci of histiocytiod cells. There are also many lymphobiastic cells showing a more granular nucleus with indistinct nucleolus. Mitotic figures are infrequent in these cells.

INTERPRETATION – I suspect this is an early mixed cell lymphoma but difficult to differentiate from lymphoid hyperplasia. The prognosis should be cautious following splenectomy. It is now a case of keeping our fingers crossed and hoping for the best.