Hi all I have not poseted in a long time but I wanted to pipe up.
 
My ferret Elvis has a dribble problem (Men!  They always miss the toilet).
Originally, we thought it was because he had adrenal disease, we had
his left adrenal removed about a year ago.  While the problem did get
temporarily better, it never fully went away.  Because he is always
wet down there bacteria wicks into his urethra and bladder so he keeps
getting urinary tract infections.  Most recently, it is e-coli (amazing
since both my husband and I are vegetarian, and Elvis never goes outside).
Right now we have him on 1.0 2x daily Batryl (sp?) to treat the infection
not the dribbling.  It appears that the adrenal tumor damaged his prostate
and caused this constant drip.  He has inslanoma as well so we have him
on pred 0.2 2xdaily and diazoxide .7 2x daily for that.  The vet says that
she gives incontinent dogs phenylpropanolamine (ppa) to strengthen the
muscles around the urinary tract.  The dose for a small dog is 5.0 10.00
ml 2x a day.  This drug has been recalled in humans because it can cause
strokes and other bad things (it is related to Phen-phen).  Do any of you
know anything about this drug, or do any of you know how to teach a ferret
kegel exercises J.  This poor guy is on 3 drugs now (granted the batryl
is temporary) I hate to put him on more.  And my other ferrets are
turning yellow because they sleep with him.  Any advice would be great.
 
On another note I see on the internet that Diazoxide is super expensive.
Do you guys have this problem too.  I get it from a local pharmacy for
about $50.00 a month not cheep but not the outrageous prices I see on the
internet.  If anyone wants the information on this pharmacy, let me know.
I asked last time I went in and the owner said he will UPS shipments out
to people, and you get to pick the flavor!!  (I always pick banana so I
don t know the other choices).  Now this is a TINY pharmacy so I don t
want to overwhelm them with ferret owners.
 
Now to address Kristen and Tiana s questions from yesterday.  2 of my
ferrets have had adrenal surgeries.
 
Kristen, see above about Elvis.  My ferrets are always running into
corners to pee changing their mind and running to another corner.  Have
your vet show you how to palpate the bladder it is simple and you can
tell right away if it is full or not.  If he were my ferret I don t know
that I would have an ultrasound, in my experience your vet will just tell
you yup the adrenal is big you should probably have a surgery which you
already know.  I would just put my money into the surgery in the first
place.  Elvis exhibited no other signs of an adrenal tumor other than the
urination; perhaps if I had had the surgery earlier he would not be drippy
boy today.  I don t know, what I do know is that once he started to drip
the damage was done.
 
Tiana my little girl Sasha had 2 adrenal surgeries, we put off the second
because it was going to be a r side vena cava ligation which is a VERY
risky surgery.  Finally I realized that I could not put it off any longer
(her vulva was the size of a pencil eraser poor girl).  I paid about
$800.00 for the surgery and it went wonderfully.  Her vulva is now normal
sized.  (The worst thing that happened in this whole ordeal is that I
took my 8 year old niece to the vet with me, when we were leaving she
asks me auntie Kirstin, whats a vulva?  Um er ahem.) I would not trust
this surgery to anyone but a ferret expert, my vet has done thousands of
adrenal surgerys, but still she said there was a fair chance (30% +) that
my ferret would die on the table.  Emagine the size of a ferrets vena
cava, they have to cut it in half take the tumor part off and sew it back
together, it is a wonder any survive at all.  All I can say is my thoughts
are with you.
 
Any help with the dribble would be appreciated.
 
Thank you all,
Kirstin in Portland
And her kids, Elvis, Sasha, Max, and Hazel.
[Posted in FML issue 3833]