Alex, naw, Val should think about the Navy... (Okay, I am from a mostly
Bluejacket family, though one Army cousin to this day insists on calling
his belly button an "Army Button" instead of naval.)
 
Actually, college is just fine -- better than fine, and it may be that
you can find a help with animals who are being used in humane studies
like i did, Valerie.  If that chance comes along I know that I sure had
a ball with it, even if I do have scars from apes and monkeys.  In fact,
Val, you are so purposeful that I suspect you'll be head and shoulders
over your peers in handling classes responsibly.
 
Val, anyone who will undergo surgery to follow a dream, who will
carefully interview prospective homes for the ferrets beforehand,
selecting the best ones, and who then will use what is best for the
ferrets as the way to decide where they stay, and who will --instead of
caving when things don't pan out -- follow a different dream is one heck
of a lot more mature than I was at 20 and I salute you!  (A couple of
years more, though, and I was a store manager and doing other work on the
side, then gave that up to nurse my mom through a terminal illness, help
raise my sister, and teach my dad to care for himself when she was gone,
then i put myself through college for an undergrad degree and some grad
work till a tropical disease cut that short -- so from my own experiences
and with having had a friend in high school who did all of those care
things I had to do when I was 23 and 24 while she was 16 and 17 due to
her mom's cancer -- I guess I do know that maturity varies greatly among
people, especially during those years since at separate times in my teens
and 20s I was less mature than my peers, and more mature than my peers.)
 
I'm not surprised that some people got the reality all befuddled; that
seems to happen a bit too often, but at least it happened here where
things could be straightened out, instead of in the horrid off-list
rumor mill which is virtually always inaccurate and often too lively for
anyone's good.
 
Gillian, the typical 4 and 1/2 year old ferret with adrenal neoplasia
will have along amount of life left if adrenal surgery is performed by a
ferret knowledgeable vet.  Lupron shots control symptoms but do not stop
the growth though one researcher on our last pers.  com.  said that they
*might* slow it slightly, nor do they stop the growth from altering into
something more dangerous.  To top it off, used long term, they are more
costly than surgery.  The only way to stop the growth and to prevent it
changing into something more dangerous is surgery.  I am glad that you
are taking to time to learn about this.  If you go to
http://www.ferretcongress.org
you will find a section labelled "Critical References" which will help
you find a good deal of excellent info, much of it from it from vets,
to share with your vet.
 
Grinding: we encountered it when insulinoma wasn't in good enough control
and was causing nausea.  Do consider the possibility of an ulcer because
that certainly is possible, but also think about re-running the blood
work and adjusting the meds if the blood work indicates that is needed.
 
As usual, I'm not a vet, just someone coming up on 21 years with ferrets.
[Posted in FML issue 4075]