My beloved Wendy was diagnosed with Lymphoma back in Feb.She has lost a little weight but remains in great spirits . I got Wendy as a young adult 9 years ago this Oct. so I don't know her exact age but she is quite old. This week my vet stated that chemo was available for her.The vet neither recommended it or rejected it,she just said it was available.My instinct was to say no but now I'm not so sure. I'm afraid the Chemo will take away the good days Wendy has left. I love wendy with all my heart and feel like putting her through Chemo would be a selfish act as I am not ready to let go. On the other hand,Wendy still enjoys her life and I owe her the best I can provide. I know there is no absolute right thing to do but I,d appreciate others thoughts.Thanks for reading

Wendy must be at least 10 or 11 yrs old. If she appears to be happy and comfortable then my gut instinct is to say NO to the Chemo. It might prolong her life a little but would it be the best for her? Enjoy your time together and be prepared to say a loving Fare Well. My thoughts and prayers are with you and Wendy.

I agree.  In 7 years on several forums, the longest-lived ferret I've ever heard of was 13.  Next were a few at 11.  Chemo is rough on the body, and she's already a very elderly lady.  It usually has to be given in cycles with breaks to allow the body to recover from the side effects, because cancer drugs don't only affect cancer cells.  It is a quality of life judgment.  I've only had one lymphoma patient, who we treated with prednisone for just over a year.  He seemed to be ok until his last couple days, but going back, I probably should have let him go a good month before he passed in my arms. I figured as long as he could get around to eat drink and potty he had enough quality of life to go on.  But now I can recognize the look of pain, and he shows it in some pics.  I should have at least had pain med for him.
 Is Wendy on prednisolone or prednisone?  
In my research I read where wild ferrets/polecats average 3-3 1/2 years of life.  I always keep this in mind when one of mine nears the end, but it doesn't help the hurt of loss much.  Best wishes.

THE DOOKS OF HAZARD

She is on prednisone and she is suppose to start taking an antibiotic today.I can't recall the name of the antibiotic but it is suppose to help her absorb nutrients ,it does come with the risk of some ugly side-effects,muscle tremors and/or seizure.As soon as I get it I'll post the exact name of it.I'm honestly kind of afraid to give it to her but the vet says it is a very low dose and Wendy can't afford to lose more weight

Chemo is a very personal decision for you and your ferret. The sooner it is started the better the odds that it will help however if she was diagnosed in Feburary you will likely need to do multiple tests to stage her lymphoma and decide how progressive it is. 

Pred can be used when you opt out of chemo to help keep her comfortable. However, if pred has already been used or is being used it can decrease the benefits of the chemo (pred conditions cells to kick chemo out of the tumor cells and therefore the chemo is less effective). 

In addition, one of the more effective chemo agents in the ferret lymphoma protocol, L-spar, is becoming increasingly difficult to obtain. There are other protocols and modified protocols that can be used. 

As I mentioned above, if you go down the road of chemo you will likely need to start with tests to stage her lymphoma to determine how far it has spread and if she is a candidate for chemo or not. It is also important to keep all of your appointments for drug administration and rechecks and bloodwork. This helps to ensure that the infection fighting cells (white blood cells) are not dropping too low and that she is responding to the treatment. These appointments can get very expensive throughout the course of treatment so you need to be prepared for that.  As UncleJoe mentioned, chemo is given in cycles to allow the body time to rebound in-between. 

Overall chemo for animals tends to not have quite the severe side effects that it has in humans but it will still have side effects. It is difficult to say if it will work for any particular animal. If it does work, it is difficult to say how long it might keep the cancer at bay. 

Good luck with your decision. 

You can switch from prednisone to prednisolone.  Prednisone is converted to prednisolone by the liver, so giving her the end product makes it act faster and relives a bit of strain on the liver.  I'd be curious to know what antibiotic it is, as I haven't heard of that being done before.  Give Wendy a hug for me.

Thanks lnsybean44.  Larry was 5 years ago and I didn't go with chemo so that is very informative.

THE DOOKS OF HAZARD

The name of the antibiotic is metronidazole. I tried three pharmacies before I could find one that had it. Any info on this product would be appreciated

Metronidazole is a an antibiotic with anti-protazoal and anti-inflammatory properties. It is used with inflammatory bowel disease, immune related disease as well as infections (usually combines with something else). The anti-inflammatory properties also help with diarrhea.

Ferrets tend to hate the taste of metronidzole and you may need to chase it with a little bit of ferretone. It is a very commonly used antibiotics in dogs 


If you decide you don't want to use it or your ferret really hates it, you should let your vet know so that you can decide on another therapy.

Other options for weight gain that you might want to ask about include high calorie foods like "carnivore care" by OxBow and MaxCal veterinary diet (prescription?) made by Iams.  They are kind of like high calorie soups and were given to one of my ferrets when he was losing weight from stomach ulcers. 

Metronidazole is nasty tasting.  Even when you put that med into soup.  One of my kids was foaming from mouth from this med.  I always ask for another antibiotic.
 
It's not worth stressing out my furkids.
 
Just my experience with this antibodies.
 
 
 
 

I gave it with a syringe.  suck up a little ferretone, tehn the metro then more tone.  shake. Follow with a few llicks of tone.  But yeah, the 4 ferrets I gave it to hated it.  
@ linsybean:  how does it help absorb nutrients?  

THE DOOKS OF HAZARD

I am not 100% certain. It might help by decreasing some of the inflammation in the intestines, if I had to guess. The mechanism of action of metronidazole for some of its effects are not well understood. 

Thanks everyone for the advice,info and support.After a lot of tears I think I've made a decesion I can live with.I'll change her predisone to predisolone and not give her the antibiotic, Wendy is alone about 8 and 1/2 hours a day and I'm just too afraid of her having a seizure when she's alone.I'll know when it's time for her to leave this world and I'll pray I've got the strength to help her.God Bless

I would strongly suggest discussing this with your vet too, especially the decision to not continue with the antibiotic. I am sure they would be more than willing to discuss everything and help come up with a plan that works for you and your girl.