Re: the various ferrets for whom a Cushings (adrenal tumor) diagnosis is being
considered.
 
1.  Eliminate other possible causes such as estrogen problems.
 
2.  Evaluate how well the individual can cope with surgery; if the answer is
"very badly"  consider moving directly to non-surgical treatment, number 5.
 
3.  Do a sonogram.  This is the only test which may be of help, but some tumors
can be too small for it to work and there can be artifacts which look like
tumors but are not.  On the other hand, in clear cases of tumors still being too
small to know which adrenal is involved, in cases of bilateral tumors for which
surgery is a quite dubious thing to do, or in cases where the tumor is on the
right side and is so large that removal without "bleeding out" the individual
from the vena cava (damaging one of the body's major veins) or  from unavoidable
liver damage is unlikely the critter will be saved the stress of going under the
scalpel.  While expensive, a well done sonogram is worth a lot, and an
increasing # of specialists now travel with one from vet hospital to hospital.
 
 
4.  If the animal is a good surgical candidate still take into account that this
is major surgery and as such does have a higher loss rate than other surgeries
generally do.  On the other hand, if the furry is a good candidate then remember
that the only way to possibly stop further spread in case the tumor is malignant
(Fortunately, most adrenal tumors are not, but should it be and be tested to be
of a lympho type then have vet go to Ann Jeglum's protocol, or contact Fox at
MIT to find out if their current somewhat hush-hush work may help your animal,
or get in touch with an AMC  or veterinary school oncologist.) is to remove it
at this point.  Also, since most are benign, it is the ferret's best chance for
a long happy life when cancer is not involved.  Even if you avoid surgery for a
long while as we did with Hjalmar (Due to original swelling of adrenals without
clear tumor being bi-lateral combined with consideration of his age.) you may
find that your darling will eventually have more and more Addison's crises so
surgery may have to eventually be done anyway.
 
Post surgical tips:  In cases of post-op convulsions do the regular checks for
things such as infection and sugar dips first.  If these do not work there is
the possibility of suppression of the other adrenal.  Hjalmar was the first
documented case of this happening and Florinef worked beautifully.  (Further
info:  Hanan Caine, 1-908-766-4211 -- a wonderful vet for those in N.J., or Tom
Kawasaki, or AMC who both closely followed Hjalmar's  case)  Post surgical
prednisone can be made palatable by mixing it with Nutrical.  Let ferret go to
the bathroom on floor at first unless it insists on using the pot, then make a
ramp (as easy as using folded towels).  Dehydration is a common complication
with surgery and with severe illnesses.  You can learn to do sub-Q injections of
Ringers (in insulinoma which is advanced vets may want to instead consider a
dilute dextrose solution -- it has its draw-backs and its benefits, but that's
another problem).  These will also improve appetite since dehydration tends to
remove the desire to eat.  Efa-Z is a good way to help repair Cushing's damaged
skin.  If there are uncomfortable blackheads use baby oil (even for clean-ups
use it instead of water for a ferret whose skin is badly damaged) and you can
gently -- very gently-- remove the worst heads by carefully and lightly sliding
you thumb nail (well cleaned beforehand) in the direction from head toward tail.
The skin oil has trouble getting out of pores when there is baldness and that
causes the clogs, so you need to soften like with like and go from there.
Remember that a stressed out animal may need a nutrient and calorically packed
diet.  There has been much discussion recently about weight gain foods available
to vets or in drug stores, and there is also always the standby of hard boiled
egg yolks (not whites) in Nutrical, which can be mixed with other foods or made
dilute and force fed with dropper or pipet if needed.  If you need a warm area
in the home you can make hot water bottles by putting hot water in bottles or
jars which seal well and wrapping in a towel, or you can consider buying a
whelping warming pad, or can get one of those fake-fur snooze tunnels and lay a
light weight cloth such as a bit of sheet over the mouth of it to trap heat but
allow reasonable air exchange for breathing.  It depends on how cold the animal
is .  BTW, if the ferret is of advanced age and poor health then don't be
surprised if it has to be on IV about 5 days or so.
 
5.  Non-surgical treatments:  Ketaconazole has given some ferrets an extra half
year.  c-Lysodren (also known as Lysodren) gave Hjalmar more time than that
before his Addison's crises became too common to avoid surgery (by that time the
tumor on the R had grown enough to show on sonogram and an artifact showed on L
side -- but R one was obviously a tumor and the major problem).  The
difficulties with Lysodren were that it was not available in small enough doses,
Hjalmar could not swallow the smallest size capsule available, and it must be
protected from saliva.  The solution was to have pharmacist divide one into
appropriate weights, empty the capsules each into a tiny graduated vial, note
the volume so that further doses could be powered with mortar and pestile and
then mixed with Nutrical to shield the powder from saliva.  BTW, he considered
this a special daily treat.  (Aside:  treatment with meds or nature of tumor can
make some males behave as if whole so realize that such futile changes in
behavior can happen.  Hjalmar enjoyed that part greatly; he was the foreplay
king.)  Complications of which you should be aware:  a swollen spleen can begin
to bleed, ditto liver.  Addisons Crises can occur so you MUST have prednisone
handy  (again, give in Nutrical to make palatable).
 
Other notes:  If ferret gets pred cramps don't forget power of massage, and if
they get really bad then massage and range of motion exercises given in slightly
hot water will come to be looked forward to even by those who had hated water.
Cushings animals need stress reduction in their lives, extra protection from
other illnesses (You will learn to scrub as well as to mask up if you feel at
all under.), and a reduction in salt in their diets to better protect organs
such as the heart.  In complex surgery such as right side of when there have
been complication such as internal bleeding $600 to $650 is about right for the
op and post-op care.  In a clear-cut left side one with minimal post-op care it
is a bit steep.
 
Cushings ferrets who are clear cut cases (with estrogen problems eliminated as
culprit) tend to have balding, sometimes all over, sometimes mainly tail,
sometimes lower half of body and maybe top of head.  The fat re-distributes so
that they become extremely pear shaped, often to the point of fat (or swollen
nodes in some cases, or both) interfering with use of rear legs.
 
Have reposted Cushings info probably too many times for some.  Please, keep in
personal files and give to vets, and I'll just post when we get many new members
(as now) or several who are wondering about the disorder (as now).
 
[See my article below.]
 
Ferrets are excellent patients, and with many serious illnesses actually respond
better than cats do even though there have been many more years spent finding
treatments for cats.
 
[Yes, remarkably so in many cases.  Many times our ferrets have bounced
back from things faster than I could believe.]
 
On a lighter note:  does anyone out there have ferrets who like make-up?
Meltdown sometimes gets a little dry skin, and when she does she begs to have
lip stick held out to her .  She rubs her dry little nos in it and seals in the
moisture.  Normally she's a pink nose, but she has been red, pink,  brownish
pink,peach, and a purplish-red when in make-up.  When very fussy she'll reject a
few before making her selection.  On what preferences we don't know -- it
varies.
 
Re: favored drinks:  Spot loves coke, and Meeteetse has a love for raspberry
herbal tea with honey.
 
Without seeing them it's hard to tell, but "sterling" is the color which comes
to mind for the blue-gray ferret if it is otherwise white, and "black-eyed
white" is what the Mortons dubbed their non-albino whites.
 
Meeteetse got a "sock mousie"  -- i.e. the fate of all our old socks which are
knotted into mouse toys -- stuck on her claw last night by one long stray thread
and laughed and danced as the mousie "chased" her around the room.
 
Ruffle and Meltdown both had good CBC results, and Meltie wound up having to
have a tooth extracted but is now very happy.
 
Has anyone else wrapped a length of toilet paper around the ferrets' middles
with a bit hanging loose and then let them run.  Our's consider it a marvelously
funny game.
 
Hug, kiss, and play with your furries.  Oh, yes, when training them you'll find
praise works better than negative reinforcement does so use the latter as a
back-up only, new ferret pals.
 
The BFFs are doing well, but still badly in need of another wild colony to get
some new genetic material in.  It is thought that there are some, but unless
someone eventually cares enough to reveal such a location the ferrets will
remain EXTREMELY vulnerable.  The reintroductions went better than expected but
there is now another plague outbreak in WY and MT so further releases will have
to be done in areas or times when that threat (mainly to food source though one
ferret actually seem s to have gotten it) .  Toronto doesn't have it's
permission yet, but will be added to the about half dozen current zoological
park black footed ferret breeding sites once that's done.  Breeding is going
well.  Light experimentation and other researches (including hormonal trickery
for a female who has never ovulated) are happening piece by piece in various
locations.  Old missile hollows (cement circles open to the sky) are being
 turned
into training sites for life in the wild.
 
Have recently been wondering why an early Dutch explorer of N.J. referred to
there having been "polecats" here.  (Weasels or mink from shape?  Raccoons from
mask?  Something more tantalizing?)  Also, why the ancient Native American
carving dubbed "Key Marco Cat" has  some ferret-like features such as mask, ear
placement, and nose.  Need to know more about colonial rodents and rabbit/hares
from those times.
 
Did other viewers of the PBS show on Renaissance art notice the painting of
Elizabeth I with the pet ferret?  Does anyone know the name of it and if
reproductions are available?  Ditto, Lady with Ermine.
 
Finally over my stupid infection, but have been told that I need a CT (cat) scan
and will need nasal and sinus surgery so will get the postal cards to curators
either between all if chance, or after it's all done.
 
        Love, Sukie (and Steve, and Meltdown, Ruffle, 'Chopper, Spot, and Meeteetse)
 
[Now we're into people surgery too....
 
All our best Sukie.]
 
[Posted in FML issue 0467]