Chocolate Moose had surgery yesterday.  The vet said he had one islet
cell tumor on his pancreas and the vet did a partial pancreatectomy.  He
also did an intestinal biopsy at my request because of recent diarrhea
but he thought the intestines looked normal.  However, he also noticed
that the right adrenal gland was slightly enlarged.  He did not attempt
to remove any of it because of its proximity to the vena cava and because
Moose no longer has a left adrenal gland.  He recommended treating him
with Lupron eventually.
 
Moose is doing well this morning.  I brought him home rather than leave
him in the hospital overnight because no one would be checking on him.
The wound oozed slightly whenever he tried to get up and walk but this
morning everything has dried up well.  His energy levels are also
returning.  I let him out for a couple of minutes this morning to see if
he wanted to go to the bathroom.  I am keeping him in his little carrier
again today so he will get lots of rest and so the incision will heal.
 
While I was out of town, a lady who has some experience with ferrets
looked in on him twice a day.  We upped his prednisolone dose and she
phoned me twice a day to let me know how he was doing.  The pred made
a huge difference for a few days while I was gone.
 
It looks like soon I will have two ferrets on Lupron.  They can fight
with each other over who goes first (yeah, right).
 
Thanks for the well wishes of people on this board.
 
Linda and Chocolate Moose
[Posted in FML issue 3955]