Ferrets and tumors

Well, if the lumps you feel are around the back angle of the jaw, where it meets the neckline, it could be indeed a lymph node problem. It could be cancerous, but most often enlarged lymph nodes are a sign of some sort of infection in the body that the body is fighting off. However, there is also something called a sialocele. If the bumps are soft-ish, and not hard, and if they are located right under the jaw, it could be a sialocele, or maybe a group of them. A sialocele forms when the saliva ducts in the mouth are damaged somehow, and the salive drips down into the skin beneath the jaw, and gathers there. Finally, there are also cysts. Cysts can form just about anywhere on a ferret, and they can do that thing that your ferret's bumps are doing. That is, they can appear, stay the same size for a while, and then start growing again. This is because cysts are basically little pockets of either fluid or semi-fluid, and over time more of it can get added on. Either way, you need to take him to a good vet to get checked out. If this is a lymph node problem, he probably needs to be put on medication. If it's cysts, or a sialocele (still iffy on that one) then he should probably have it removed so that it won't get bigger and start bothering him. The big problem with growing bumps anywhere around the jaw is that when they get big enough, they start making it difficult for the ferret to eat and drink, and by that time they would probably be so large that the operation he'd need to have would have to remove a lot of tissue. Even if this is just a situation where it might eventually go away on its own, it's always best to check with a vet. Here's a list of vets from the AFA website across America: http://www.ferret.org/links/vets.html#IL You can also check on this message board and ask the people there if they would know of any ferret vets in your area. They are all very helpful there!: http://www.ferretvillage.org