I just finished reading the last three posting, I have been unable
recently to get to the FML posts but have saved them so I could. I have
been busy moving my belongings one trip at a time from Reno, Nevada to
California. From the time I left Las Vegas in December of 2005 To Reno,
I have had a terrible time getting Luperon for my Adrenal ferrets.
In Reno they were looking for a source to order for me that was in
April/May 2006. I left Reno in June 2006 so both myself and my eleven
kids would not perish in the heat. Our house had no air conditioning,
after a winter with no heat and snow from January to May I knew I would
not survive another winter there. My sister and niece used no I mean
absolutely no heat in the house. After six months there I wanted to go
back to my roots. With that came the same problem, my vet didn't have
Luperon on hand. She sees ferrets but not many, she started looking
for a reasonable source. My adrenal kids as I saw were suffering with
symptoms and I was desperate to ease their symptoms. One male Alaya
(female name never changed, my granddaughter and son thought he was a
female for a year and half before the vet told them what they thought
was a belly button was his little penis) was losing his coat rapidly
after not having any Luperon since we left Las Vegas but worse was is
sexual aggression that he couldn't help but all his adoptive brothers
and sisters suffered for. He had to be removed from the group and caged
alone. He had to be supervised closely at play time or he would abuse
any poor kid he could corner. He was very depressed having to live
alone and I felt for him. I felt helpless being at the mercy of the
vets slow process. My little sweet Raven was losing her coat rapidly
and her vulva started swelling by leaps and bounds, it looked painful
and she became so large I thought she would burst. My B Bear started
developing adrenal with huge clump of hair loss in December, Fuzzy
whose coat was thinning and so scruffy looked terrible. Momma Bear
was bald as could be but didn't seem to mind except she was weather
intolerant and was affected by the heat in Reno so badly I had to
keep her wrapped in cool wet cloths.

In early January I read a posting on the FML by a sweet girl who was
saying what great results her little boy was getting from her giving
him oral Melatonin. I contacted her to ask about dosage and time frame
and she was great, she sent web sites as well as dosage and the time
frame it needed to be given. I decided to give it a try since I had
been waiting since September 2006 for my vet to get Luperon, I am sure
the office staff got tired of my calls about it and told me they would
call me when it came it.

One I told the person who answered the phone that I had another one of
my kids develop adrenal and her response was, yes it is really
catching.

I started everyone on Melatonin orally the first part of January and
by the second week of being on it I noticed Raven's vulva was getting
smaller, at first I just thought it was my imagination and wishful
thinking but by the third week I was sure it was working and from that
time forward it seem to shrink in size daily. For Alaya, he stopped his
sexual aggressive behavior and was able to have his old cage mate back,
much to both our delight. By the first of February I found Raven to be
getting new growth on her chest and belly. things have progressed
wonderfully since then. Alaya has a full beautiful coat back with only
a small bald spot on the top of his head. He no longer pins anyone down
chewing on ears and humping himself into exhaustion. He looks beautiful
and has the energy and playfulness of a kit again. Raven was more rapid
in her loss of coat and is slower to get it back but as just some of
her backside and hind legs to re grow and the bald spot on the top of
her head, her vulva is almost normal in size it is only slightly bigger
than the other females I have. It's truly amazing how well they are
responding to the Melatonin. Fuzzy who as long as I have had him has
had this bed head scruffy looking coat has this full, thick and shiny
coat, he looks so beautiful now and he knows it. He lies about
stretching and preening now as if to say look at me I am too beautiful.
BBear is slower to respond, I was worried about him until this last
week, he was just starting to lose his coat when I started him on the
medication and I assumed he would stop losing his fur and have only a
small amount to regain. Wrong, he continued to lose his coat and he
looked terrible compared to the other adrenal kids. luckily he started
last week to start re grow his coat and has now filled in all his
missing coat with new growth, it filled in as alaya's did very thick
and all at the same time. Raven has filled in much differently than
the two boys are.

Unfortunately I lost Momma Bear on Feb 5th, she was doing so well and
then just stopped eating and started just drinking water, she developed
Renal Failure and with all her other problems, severe insulinoma and
adrenal disease I had to help her to the Rainbow bridge. She was a
sweet thing who had the best time of her short life the last eight
months of her life. She blossomed in California, she loved it and was
a changed girl when she left Nevada. I will miss her as much as the
other sweet babies I have lost since I have left Las Vegas.

I had no real knowledge of how well Melatonin worked for adrenal
disease, I had actually only heard negative things about it so never
looked into it but desperation to help my kids get some relief and the
positive things I read about it in that post led me to try it and I am
so glad. I just spoke to my vet on Wednesday, she called me to tell me
that she had finally found a reasonable priced source for the Luperon,
I told her how well my kids were doing on the Melatonin she felt I
should continue what I was doing and save the cost of the Luperon if or
when it wasn't helping any longer. I am grateful to have a place like
the FML to read and learn from others who have had experience with
helpful treatments or medications for ferrets. I thought I would share
my success with the readers as well. I have updated at intervals the
person who helped me with the information and thank her each time for
her willingness to pass the information on to me to help my kids get
better.

I have opted to treat all my kids adrenal and non-adrenal with the
Melatonin since from what I have read it can't hurt and may even help
with the prevention or at least slow the onset of the disease. I have
to say all my kids have never looks so good as they do right now,
everyone's coats are full and rich and of course they love medicine
time because it come in my duck soup and they love that. I have been
vigilent in not missing a dose a few times the time frame was off due
to trips to Reno and back but it hasn't seemed to stop or interrupt
their progress. I wonder about the time with the time change sunrise
time has changed so it is an hour later. I have also started to keep my
kids in lower light conditions and make sure they get a full compliment
of dark time artificial it is but still dark for longer periods. It all
seems to agree with them, they are more playful and frisky since
starting them on the medication and low light conditions. It didn't
change the bad behavior a few have been known to display.

I would like to thank the people who make the FML possible and what
a great service this is for fuzzy lovers all over the US. I greatly
appreciate it and love to read it, I have many issues to go back and
read when I have time again. Crushing ten pills every day cuts some
of my reading time out.

I also have recently joined the card exchange and have so enjoyed
getting the sweet cards and sweet thoughtful little gifts that come
along with them. Thank you to all that have sent me cards, I have
really enjoyed opening them. I would love to know where you all get
the great ferret graphics that you use in your cards. I have stamps
if I can ever find the storage container that they are packed in
sitting in a storage facility now. My next goal is to find those and
other treasures I have had packed away since 2005. I would love to
know who or where you get the ferret graphics from.

Also I was finally able to send for a FML/SOS 2007 calendars, it's
great, I love it. You did a wonderful job, it is the first one I have
had or even seen. Thank you to those who do the calendars as well.

Joelene, Raven, Misty, Frisky, Fuzzy, Alaya, BBear, Nemo, Mattman,
Snoop & Casper the friendly ferret

[Posted in FML 5556]