My ferret has classic symptoms of adrenal dsease.  I believe she first
started to lose hair last summer and it has progressed slowly till the
last several months.  She has hair loss from her ears to her tail - all
that remains is her tail,legs and face.  Her vulva is severely swollen.
Other than that she seems perfectly healthy- her skin is a nice color and
smooth - not red, itchy or dehydrated.
 
Ohio State did an ultrasound where they showed me what they were certain
was a problem with her right adrenal gland - I could even see it.  They
also did blood work to check for insulinoma and anemia.  No problem with
insulinoma ( surprised me since her favorite treat is sugar pops) and
that she was slightly anemic.  I'm not sure if they checked for other
things or not... The bill says they did a Hemogram-CBC & DIFF and Profile
17 Tests.
 
When they did the surgery - everything was normal - neither gland was
affected.
 
They checked her completely out and removed three tissues or nodules that
looked abnormal - one from her pancreas - a piece of tissue that they
thought might be an ovarian remnant and another piece of something that
they thought might be "floating" adrenal tissue.  But the lab results all
came back with no adrenal abnormality and no ovarian remnant and everything
was benign.  They thought that mass they saw in the ultrasound might have
been an air pocket that she developed in the ride over ???
 
She came home with no meds and is just fine.  Now they're talking that it
might be her pituitary gland that is malfunctioning and telling her adrenal
gland to overproduce ?? ... I just wish they would've taken the left one
out anyway while they were in there - just to be safe.  I guess this HCG
shot would just be a diagnostic thing to tell them whether it might be
the pituitary gland - if it is - they said they have never seen it before
and I told them that I think brain surgery might just be out of the
question !!! ... hahahaha
 
But she has continued to lose hair since the surgery and her vulva is just
as swollen, but she seems as healthy as she can be !!!!  She has lost a
little hair under her tail, but the top is still in pretty good shape -
getting a little thin though.  And what's really weird - the hair has
appeared to grow back where they shaved her little leg for the IV !!!!!
She also seems to be maintaining her mighty 1.4 lbs of body weight.
 
Now the vet says we can just skip the shot and start her on meds, which
would either be Lupron or something else that I'm sorry I can't remember
the name right now.  But he said that they would rather do a CAT Scan on
her and that they would do this AT NO CHARGE !!!! ... Then if the CT scan
showed anything the surgery expense would be "minimal" I asked about the
Univ. of Tenn.  blood test and he said that would only diagnose it , but
not tell them WHERE this tissue is.  =A0 Any of you guys ever hear about
doing a CT scan on a ferret??  I hate to have to put her thru this and put
her under anesthesia again, but she bounced back so well last time and
seems to be in great shape so I'm willing to try it.  If they have to go
in, do you think I should ask them about also removing the left adrenal
just to be safe??  I told my local vet to contact Ohio State and set this
thing up, but I would sure like to have some mre input.  I hope I have
given you sufficient details.
 
Please email direct if at all possible.
 
Thank you in advance for any response
Julie - Bauble and Wiley (the hairy one)
[Posted in FML issue 3031]