>...I was wondering, The doctor who called me to tell me about Marley said
>that if I didn't get the surgery, then it can and will spread throughout
>his entire body, affecting all his organs.
>
>I had received an email from a man named Mike, and he said that what I
>described about Marley having, it didn't sound like adrenal cancer.  That
>adrenal cancer stays in one place and just gets bigger...
 
Most adrenal growths tend to be localized (though some can spread simply
from proximity to other structures rather than by metatastis (I never can
spell that word right).  There are some EXCELLENT vet-written posts,
including ones by the ferret-pathology specialist, Bruce Williams, which
go into this and explain the differences clearly.  You can find them by
using the search features in
 
http://listserv.cuny.edu/archives/ferret-search.html ,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list
 
Look for key words like "benign", "definition", etc.  or find the correct
word for the one I can't spell :-), and in the CUNY files "Williams",
"cross-post", with the posts being send by my name.  These will help MANY
people to read.  Maybe I should find them and do a "golden oldie" sometime
when Bill thinks it makes sense.  I think that the CUNY one might be the
fastest for this but am not sure; either should work.
 
Are there some types of growths that can crop up in adrenal glands that
are malignant?  Yes, but they are less common than the ones that are
benign.  There are also some forms which can spread but tend to not do so,
so for those surgery is curative.  Lymphosarcoma is among the ones that
spread readily to distant sites and is likely what your vet is afraid of.
Basically, only pathology by a knowledgeable pathologist will give a
decent prognosis, and for most ferrets surgery is the best option, not
only because of what i wrote above, but also because some of the possible
complications that can arise secondary to ANY adrenal growths be very
dangerous.  Most adrenal growths are benign.  When non-vet people say
"cancer" in relation to ferret adrenal growths, pancreatic growths, or
skin growths they usually are wrong in terminology...
 
Finding vets:
 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list/files/FerretVets.html ,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list/files/FML-shelter-list.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc ,
 
and others
[Posted in FML issue 3560]