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Post by Beth on Jan 31, 2013 16:00:57 GMT -5
I have a 5.5 year old male ferret, and except for the problem that I'm about to right about, he's in good health. He has a large growth behind his right ear that he's scratched open and it really bleeds. We took him to the vet this morning and they said it was most likely cancerous, and that it would cost us about $1,000 to treat him, which includes the removal, biopsy, and any additional treatments needed. What I'm wanting to know is if it's worth putting him through all of this and then spending this much money, or should we just consider euthanizing him? I don't want to euthanize him, but I can't watch him suffer either if this is something that could become much worse.
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Post by ordinarygirl on Jan 31, 2013 17:00:33 GMT -5
if your vet is ferret savvy and has done this treatment before - they will be able to give you the best information as far as what happens after treatment. Vets also understand it when they look at an animal who's old, sick and tired and will support a deicsion to help the animal to the Bridge. Most vets aren't in it for the money - they are in it to help the animal - perhaps they can work out a payment plan with you if they feel given an otherwise healthy ferret is what they're dealing with. Also if you have local ferret shelters you might call on them to see if they'll help you financially.
Is it a Mast Cell Tumor? Those are almost always benign. What does it look like? Can you show us a picture? How big is it?
I understand your predicament - when my Rylee was diagnosed with Lymphoma the course of treatment was chemo which makes her feel worse and is very expensive - I opted for no treatment or even biopsy because it didn't matter if it was cancer - we weren't going to do anything about it - and she lived another year or so. Maybe 8 months.
Good luck! keep us posted!
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judy
New Member
Tamma 6-4-09
Posts: 4,247
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Post by judy on Jan 31, 2013 17:45:38 GMT -5
OG made some really good points. I agree with her and I share her feelings on giving animals chemo, especially ferrets and especially older ones.
From my nice safe place behind my computer, where there are no sick ferrets, this is what I "think" I would do.....
I would have bloodwork and a physical to see if he is otherwise healthy and could withstand surgery. If so, and if I could afford it, I would have the vet remove the growth as thoroughly as possible. I would take it from there. If it were cancer, I would let my ferret live his life until he got very ill, and then I would sadly help him to the bridge.
That's my head talking.... sometimes the heart interferes with these sound and logical plans. Good luck making these decisions. Its never easy - we all know that.
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Post by unclejoe on Jan 31, 2013 20:13:46 GMT -5
You can get a second opinion. I'd like to see a picture of it because I'm in the exact same situation with Boodles. I have a pic of his. He's about the same age. He's going to a vet that I trust this weekend. I will let you know what she says. We'll probably have this one removed, unless she thinks it's imminently terminal. She helped me a lot with Larry's lymphoma, then she left that practice. Now I've found her again and she specializes in exotics. Wish us luck, and good luck to you, Beth.  |
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Post by ordinarygirl on Feb 1, 2013 8:47:41 GMT -5
oh no! poor Boodles!  Keep us posted and good luck this weekend! So glad you found your favorite vet!  |
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Post by Beth on Feb 1, 2013 9:54:07 GMT -5
Thank you all so much!!! I knew I had picked the right board to post to!! The picture is right on the money - that is what Hugo has, but his is larger and he continually scratches it, so it bleeds a lot and it looks really bad. Sorry, no pic's to post, it's hard to look at.  The vet said that it is indeed probably Mast Cell and quite likely localized to that area. He said that this type of growth also gives off histamine, hence the itching and scratching. Aside from needing his teeth cleaned, Hugo is in excellent health given all the factors (Marshall's ferret, 5.5 years old, etc.), so that is obviously in our favor. I found out more information last evening after talking to my daugher (who took Hugo to the vet) and I called the vet's office to discuss options; and, for a few hundred dollars, they can do the surgery to remove the mass. That we can handle. However, we opted to not do labs or anything additional as that's where the major part of the cost is. They said that the only draw back to having it removed and doing no further treatment is that it can grow back. I'm willilng to take my chances and the vet agreed that this is probably a sound decision. Given the picture that I saw, please take your sweet ferret to the vet and have them look at it. T don't think you want it to get like my Hugo's. We didn't take him right away, we just thought he had scratched his ear to much and just treated it, and never saw that it was a growth because of the scabbing until it got this bad. But we still caught it soon enough that it's treatable. Thank you all again!!!! Ferret families are the best families EVER!!! |
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Post by Beth on Feb 1, 2013 9:56:17 GMT -5
Yes, please keep us posted and I'm glad you found your vet again. A good, and trustworthy vet is worth their weight in gold!!!! Hang in there!!!
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Post by unclejoe on Feb 1, 2013 16:14:52 GMT -5
that's what I was hoping. Now I'm hoping it wont cost more than we can pay. I'm ore surprised to find a vet open on sundays than tracking down my former vet. |
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Post by unclejoe on Feb 3, 2013 19:50:51 GMT -5
The vet said it'll be a piece of cake to remove. He goes in Tuesday, under a mild sedation. He won't need to be put under. Whew. She is good, and she will once again be our regular vet. I'm glad I found her again. I'll try post post surgery pics.
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Post by ordinarygirl on Feb 4, 2013 8:42:32 GMT -5
hurry for both of you! glad your babies are going to have attention and be okay! Keep us posted after the surgeries |
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Post by Beth on Feb 4, 2013 17:38:48 GMT -5
Very sorry all - the vet provided additional information today about this. Seems that Hugo's growth is possibly too large to remove because of the location. The skin on the head is pulled tight and if the growth is too big, they can't suture the wound well enough to close which causes a whole new bunch of issues that I'm sure you all are more than aware of. So there's a very real possibility that the mass could not be removed afterall by the vet and we just leave things as is. It's weird because we asked if there was anything we could have done sooner that would have made it better, but based on the onset of the growth, turns out that there wasn't. I've been kicking myself pretty hard thinking that if I had known what it was, I could have taken him in 2 weeks ago and it would have helped. Not the case apparently since Hugo had scratched it open so badly. So now we are back to not sure if we're doing the surgery and the cost of the surgery went from $300 to $650 because of his age, fluids, removal, etc. I'm not certain if I should take him to another vet or what. I like and trust this vet and don't really feel like I'll get a better answer than what I've gotten now. Thoughts or opinions? How is Boodles??
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Post by ordinarygirl on Feb 5, 2013 8:43:44 GMT -5
oh no! sorry to hear this news. It sounds like it doesn't matter what the cost of the surgery is - if they can't close it up - what good can it do? did they suggest a round of antibiotics to try to clear it up and help him stop scratching it?
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Post by unclejoe on Feb 5, 2013 20:23:31 GMT -5
I'm sorry to hear that Beth. A second opinion won't hurt, but it will come down to who you trust to do the surgery, I guess. And with ferrets, there is always a risk under general anesthesia.
I am happy to report that Booboo came through his surgery fine. I've been too busy today to take pics of his scar, and now he's curled up in a sleep sack. I'll try to get one in the morning.
His was a big external growth. A snip and a stitch was all it took. I could have probably withstood that procedure without anesthetic, but his surgery was $200, just because fuzzies are so fragile, plus $80 for the visit Sunday.
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Post by ordinarygirl on Feb 6, 2013 8:34:21 GMT -5
glad to hear Booboo is all better speedy recovery! |
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Post by unclejoe on Feb 6, 2013 20:45:22 GMT -5
Here's Booboo's war wound  Internal stitches and dermabond |
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Keep us posted and good luck this weekend! So glad you found your favorite vet! 
The vet said that it is indeed probably Mast Cell and quite likely localized to that area. He said that this type of growth also gives off histamine, hence the itching and scratching. Aside from needing his teeth cleaned, Hugo is in excellent health given all the factors (Marshall's ferret, 5.5 years old, etc.), so that is obviously in our favor. I found out more information last evening after talking to my daugher (who took Hugo to the vet) and I called the vet's office to discuss options; and, for a few hundred dollars, they can do the surgery to remove the mass. That we can handle. However, we opted to not do labs or anything additional as that's where the major part of the cost is. They said that the only draw back to having it removed and doing no further treatment is that it can grow back. I'm willilng to take my chances and the vet agreed that this is probably a sound decision. Given the picture that I saw, please take your sweet ferret to the vet and have them look at it. T don't think you want it to get like my Hugo's. We didn't take him right away, we just thought he had scratched his ear to much and just treated it, and never saw that it was a growth because of the scabbing until it got this bad. But we still caught it soon enough that it's treatable. Thank you all again!!!! Ferret families are the best families EVER!!! 
all my kids are doing well otter is getting real beefy feeling <winter weight?> and his coat is getting real soft not many noticeable changes overall,, new guy is getting big