See:
http://www.smartgroups.com/message/viewdiscussion.cfm?
gid=1423922&messageid=13515
 
Okay, first off, remember what melatonin is.  Is is a compound which the
body itself makes when it gets enough darkness.  (The degree of darkness
matters since even a little light can really decrease the production.)
 
With your first ferret, Joni, it sounds like the adrenal disease really
took off from at least one bit of tissue remaining behind and she
developed the anemia complication which takes some adrenal ferrets.  Dr.
Jerry Murray has some marvelous past posts discussing this complication.
See posts from AFERRETVET in http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org
 
Rusty was being helped by the melatonin and you should consider also
getting LUPRON DEPOT into him since you say that he isn't a surgical
candidate, or if you are in Australia then Suprelorin is an option.
 
Blade's low blood sugar: that could be from insulinoma (or more rarely
a different pancreatic growth), or from his anorexia causing his sugar
to drop, or both.  There tends to be a reason behind anorexia and some
of those can also cause extreme weakness, for instance lymphoma or
cardiomyopathy and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy can be hard to spot too
often.  Since melatonin can cause some sleepiness that would make such
limitations more noticable and give you a useful heads-up to do more
tsting on this little one.
 
Also see:
http://www.miamiferret/fhc
the FML Archives (The address is in the header of every day's FML
the FHL Archives http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org
 
So, basically: Joni had a well documented complication to adrenal disease
and her symptoms showed that adrenal disease was still present.  Rusty
was being helped but needs to have a stronger approach and since he isn't
a surgical candidate for unstated reasons that means Lupron Depot, too.
Since he will continue to have an adrenal growth he will need regular
evaluation so that if serious complications like anemia or prostate
enlargement show up those can also be medicated for.  Blade also needs a
vet visits since he has something going on producing that anorexia and
needs testing for possible causes of anorexia and possible causes of low
blood sugar.  Definitely time for a vet visit for those two.  In Blade's
case the tendency of melatonin to produce tiredness may make the poor
coordination and weakness symptoms of underlying illness more apparent
just as getting tired on his own would do.
 
Melatonin has been tested in so very many ways in so very many ferrets
and it repeatedly has minimal unwanted side effects.
---
 
Amber, Gus is INCREDIBLE!  So are you!  I am so glad that you two have
each other!
---
 
Dani, RESTRICT HIS ACTIVITY FOR AT LEAST 10 DAYS AFTER MAJOR SURGERY!  HE
SHOULD NOT BE SCURRYING AROUND, HE SHOULD NOT BE WRESTLING.  HE SHOULD
NOT BE CLIMBING.
 
Sorry, about shouting, but I had to make sure you would see this fast
which is why I also copied it to you.  A too common cause of
post-surgical death is injury from too much activity too soon.
[Posted in FML issue 4852]