One common ferret illness which needs to be considered when fur loss
occurs is adrenal disease. (Some of the sources below are pulled from an
FML which preceded the move of the FHL Archives. They should forward,
but if they do not just plug the letter and number ID into the search
at http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
Fortunately, there are a LOT of things people can do for such ferrets.
Surgery is the best approach, but for health reasons not all are
surgical candidates. If surgery can not be done options include
Suprelorin/deslorelin (if you are close enough to the University in PA
where a study is on-going, or more standardly in the U.S.: Lupron DEPOT
and meltonin implant (best of the standard options here), Lupron depot
alone (second best), Melatonin implant (third), oral melatonin (fourth).
Here is some info from vets for you:
http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0401&L=FERRET-SEARCH&P=R12970
Including:
>Adrenal carcinomas (malignant adrenal tumors) are interesting
>neoplasms.
>
>Although they possess the ability to metastasize, only a small number
>do, and usually only late in the course of disease. It is likely that
>they do metastasize a lot, but have trouble gaining a foothold in
>distant tissues, so it takes a long time and many attempts if they ever
>truly metastasize.
http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0507&L=FERRET-SEARCH&P=R4104
Notice:
>However, even under the best conditions, when there is no malignancy,
>there is no bone marrow toxicosis, there is no prostatic cystic
>disease - even the most mild prediction is a sad one. Ferrets with
>adrenal disease have a diminished quality of life - they have
>progressive muscle loss, low grade anemia, they tend to redistribute
>weight to the abdomen, further making it difficult to walk, they have
>an increased incidence of gastric ulcers as a result of the stress of
>chronic illness, decreased bone density - none life-threatening, but
>all life-compromising. Even medical treatment, which is not my
>preferred way of treating adrenal disease, gives slight relief to
>symptoms. Doing nothing is not kind and not in a ferret's best
>interest.
http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0606&L=FERRET-SEARCH&P=R14240
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/adrenal.htm (A MUST-READ ARTICLE)
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/browse.php?msg=SG15827
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/browse.php?msg=SG5436
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/browse.php?msg=SG2049 (each above
also contains IMPORTANT complications info)
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/browse.php?msg=YG1952 (notice why it
is not Cushings)
From others or a combo of vet and non-vet and worth reading:
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/basics.htm
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/melatonin.htm
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/24hr_lupron.htm
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/browse.php?msg=SG16126
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/browse.php?msg=SG16112
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/browse.php?msg=SG15327
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/browse.php?msg=SG17126
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG17496
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG17116
[Posted in FML issue 5314]
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