A month ago I brought my 3-year-old ferret Zoe to the vet because she was
beginning to lose hair on the tip of her tail.  The vet agreed that it
was almost certainly an adrenal tumor.  However, he recommended waiting
a year or so before performing surgery.
 
Since then, half of Zoe's tail has become completely bald, and she is
developing a bald spot on her back just above the tail.  I am becoming
concerned that waiting is not the right thing to be doing.  This is my
first experience with adrenal.  I've been reading up on it recently, but
I still have a lot of questions:
 
1) What are the reasons for putting off adrenal surgery on a ferret who
is still young and healthy?  Is it easier to diagnose the disease and
figure out where the cancer is located after it has had time to
progress?  At what point does surgery become advisable?
 
2) What is the typical course of treatment if we go the surgical route?
Are blood tests or exploratory surgery done first?  How long is the
recovery period, and will she need any special care while she is
recovering?  Are there any lasting side-effects of having an adrenal
gland removed?
 
3) What is the success rate of adrenal surgery, and is there a possiblity
of the tumor coming back afterwards?
 
I would especially appreciate hearing from anyone in San Diego or
elsewhere in Southern Cal.  What vet did you use, and was your experience
good or bad?  The vet that I go to has a lot of experience with ferrets.
However, in the past he has sometimes not been as quick to treat problems
as I would have expected, and I'm not sure that that's necessarily the
best thing.  Zoe is my little cuddle bug and I love her dearly, so I want
to be sure she gets the best possible care.
 
Thank you!
Julie
[Posted in FML issue 3881]