Dear Dr. Williams, and everyone else:
>From what you are telling me, it sounds like a simple renal cyst, rather
>than true polycystic disease.  In true PKD, both kidneys are riddled with
>cysts, and usually before the ferret reaches two years of age, it has died
>of renal failure.
 
Every piece of literature I've read about renal cysts in ferrets agrees
with what you have written.  OTOH, my ferret Pertwee seems to have been
one rare exception.  Our vet, Dr. Dan Hudson at Northwoods Animal Clinic
in Cary, NC, had done two adrenal surgeries on Pertwee, who, at that time,
was less than two years old.  He did not recover, acted like he was in
pain, hardly ate, and was losing weight.  Dr. Hudson, Dr. Lauren Powers at
Timberlyne Animal Hospital in Chapel Hill, NC, and Dr. Alan Feimster at the
Animal Emergency Clinic of Cary (NC) all examined Pertwee, and nobody had
an answer.  All tests showed that he was normal and should be recovering,
but he wasn't.  Dr. Hudson also consulted with several well known ferret
vets around the country.  Prior to the first adrenalectomy an ultrasound
was done, and it showed a simple renal cyst in the left kidney, which Dr.
Hudson believed was no problem whatsoever.
 
As a last resort, Dr. Hudson did one last exploratory surgery on July 2,
2000.  He found that Pertwee's left kidney had become a hardened little
mass.  Dr. Hudson said it squirted out when he opened the renal capsule.
He removed it and sent it off for pathology, fairly convinced that we would
discover that the malignant carcinoma from the adrenal glands had spread
to the kidney.  He really thought we'd end up putting Pertwee down.
 
Now here is where it gets weird: the pathology came back as polycystic
disease, not cancer.  The thing is, Pertwee's right kidney seems to be
fine.  He has recovered very well, and is back to his old body weight.
There have been ups and downs, but overall, Dr. Hudson is now cautiously
optimistic that Pertwee is going to fully recover from everything he's been
through.  I know polycystic disease is *supposed* to always be bilateral,
but I seem to have a ferret who is the one rare exception.
 
If you would like, I can ask Dr. Hudson to send you a copy of Pertwee's
medical records.  Pertwee has another checkup in two weeks, so if you would
like I can ask him then.  Write me off list if you'd like.  He's the vet,
and I am just the ferret owner who pesters him no end, so he is the one
who can answer questions.
 
>2) Remove the kidney.  Ferrets do well with only one kidney, and this
>   is not uncommonly done.
 
This, of course, is what was done in Pertwee's case.
 
All the best,
Caity Martin
[Posted in FML issue 3319]