>Our first (and my personal favorite) ferret has been having problems
>lately. Today we took him to the vet, who says it's most likely
>adrenal. He said we have 3 choices:
> 
>A) Let it go, he could live for a couple of years w/o getting any worse
> 
>B) Take him to a state university a couple of hours from here to have
>an ultrasound done to confirm
> 
>C) Surgery. This would be done in house, and estimated cost is
>$350-$400

You will probably receive a lot of answers to this one but here is my
understanding. It should be treated with surgery. The cost is very low
compared to rates in Alaska. Ginger had one adrenal gland removed three
years ago and now the other one - the right one is impacted. Our only
clues are a swollen vulva and the boys acting out. For the last 10
months we were treating once a month with Lupron and the swelling went
down about half but the boys were still acting out. Three months ago we
tried a melatonin implant and the swelling was a little smaller 5 X 7.
That was better because she only had to go once every three months and
the shot was $75 vs $35 for the monthly shot. Still, I wanted more for
her (OK I would like a cure!) so we tried a Lupron shot and a melatonin
implant. Two days later her vulva went from 3 X 5 to almost nothing and
the boys have totally calmed down. We were advised not to operate on
the right because that is the one wrapped around the aorta and it is
dangerous.

New question to the group: Does anyone have a picture of Randy's famous
Ferretland in Colorado? I saw it once but the website is down. I am
working on a plan for a wonderful ferret playground for next summer so
any ideas, drawings, or photos would be great.

"If there are no ferrets in heaven, then when I die I want to go where
they went". Will Rogers sort of 

Patti (Ginger, Fox, Freddie, Huck, Byte-Me, Nuka)

[Posted in FML 5422]