newgroups.10.zodanga

Hi all,

I guess some of you know about my boy, Chunky. It has been back and
forth on what his problem is several times now but it keeps coming
back to lymphoma. I'm not gonna get into the whole story again and
what has been done but the vet now thinks 98% he has lymphoma and
despite my wishing otherwise, and activly seeking out "cures" for
several other things that may have been causing his problems, I am now
agreeing with the vet. Sigh. :-(

So what I would like to know is:

A: He is on Pedipred - 1 mg x 2 day. Seems to be taking it ok but it
is hard to get him to first eat before taking it. Anyone have
experiences/tips of making this go smoothly?

B. What do you all do for your lympho ferries? Chemo? Pallative
therapy (steroids), or something else?

C. We don't want to go the regular chemo route. The chance of success
way to low and he is probably to far along..plus/mainly we don't want
to put him through that. My vet suggested we may want to try a
alternate chemo couse that is much easier and well taken. It is a
chemo drug called Elspar and is given via a shot (to stomach!) once a
week. The day before shot he has to get a blood test..then next day he
comes back for shot but then has to stay all day to be montored for
reactions/etc. It costs $150-200 a week depending on his needs. While
I certainly can't afford it regardless I will do whatever to make my
Chunky happy and healthy again. So have any of you had experieces with
this drug?


Thanks again everyone. :-)

zpl

Well, what does Chunky think?

Try a little "ferret fluff" before giving the pred. Heavy whipping cream,
egg yolks (watch the whites, it can leech some vitamins like B's out of
their system), and a drop or two of Nutrical or ferretone. Whip it up, and
zap it for about 10 seconds in the microwave. I used to serve in a
condiment dish - so you only want to make 1 egg's worth at a time.

Headley's lymphoma was caught too late - back and forth to the vet's for a
good month before he even agreed that something was wrong. I do not know if
it was long enough ago that they had not set up any chemo protocols for
ferrets or not. My vet at the time suggested exploratory abdominal surgery
to see if he could de-bulk a palpable tumor. I shouldn't have done it, but
I did.

You really have to weigh quantity vs. quality of life. I have not been
fortunate enough to hear good stories of ferrets, chemo and lymphoma.