Having seen the recent posts concerning this I thought I would delurk :)
Jasper, who will be 3 in April, had his left adrenal removed in August
2000.
 
His only symptom at that time was a very enlarged prostate and UTI.  His
prostate never really shrunk back even after a few more rounds of
antibiotics.  Then in December he started to show some sexual
agressiveness, his skin was all itchy and he lost a little spot of fur on
his head (male ferret baldness I told him).  And add to that the fact his
prostate was still large,so he had surgery before xmas to remove the right
gland.
 
All seemed well until 3 days after surgery, he stopped eating & drinking.
I got pedialyte in him and the on xmas nite took him to the all nite
emergency clinic to get fluids in him.  When the vet opened back up on the
Tuesday he went in & stayed till that Friday (29th).  After his surgery
he was given a shot of Percorten and a shot of Dexamethasone.  I believe
Percorten is similar to Florinef but it last 25 days or so, and the
Florinef you have to give everyday?  And the dex is in the prednisone
family I believe?  Anyways, they gave him another shot of dex while he was
there.  He did perk up but still wasn't eating much.  I have been syringe
feeding him duck soup with babyfood & crushed kibble.  Last week we started
him on Prednisone 1ml once a day.  He seems perkier & eats alot more.  He
still refuses to eat kibble!!  I have become a kibble counter so I am
pretty sure he hasn't touched any.  I leave him in the sick cage at nite so
I can count his food, but during the day I let him stay out in the ferret
room.  He will sit up & beg for a cheerio so I know his mouth works :)  I
guess if someone would wrap me up in a blanket and feed me warm food I
might not eat on my own either!
 
Okay, I have a question in here somewhere- I was told that if he perked up
on the pred, and then crashed a week or two later then he probably needs
the Percorten too?  (it would have wore off by then) Should I have a test
done to see where his hormones exactly are at, considering his continued
pickyness?  He still sleeps a good bit but he has definitely improved since
starting the pred.  The other thing I was told to try was after a week on
the pred to see how he does on it every other day.  Anybody else have any
experience with that?  Dr. Williams or whomever would like to respond can
do it here or email direct.  All info greatly appreciated.  Sorry for the
long post!!  (I guess I just hold it all in and save it up!)
 
~Amy~ & the 4 Fuzzy Of Butts
[Posted in FML issue 3301]