Have you ever had a ferret who had possible adrenal disease but needed
the TN Panel to be sure?*

Did you notice that the ferret is tested for levels of both so-called
"male hormones" and so-called "female hormones", no matter what the
gender and wonder why, beyond just that the adrenal cortex is both a
steroid*** and hormone producing organ?

The reason is because both genders have and produce the Estrogens
(so-called female hormones) and the Androgens (so-called male hormones
including testosterone). Yes, one group is typically (not always) in
higher levels in one genetic gender** and one in the other, and, yes,
in relation to reproduction and development themselves they produce
special functions that differ in the genders, but they do a lot more.

Estrogens (the apparent older of the two groups of hormones) has
hundreds of uses in the mammal body and androgens have at least dozens.
For example, estrogens are important for brain function and androgens
are important for muscles.

It gets even neater. The body can change some hormones into each other,
so some estrogens can be changed to other estrogens or into some
androgens, and some androgens can be changes into other androgens and
some estrogens. So, THAT is why with EITHER gender a ferret who has
adrenal disease may be overproducing certain estrogens, androgens, or
even both.

* Money saving note: if your vet sends the bloodwork directly to U TN
per this:
http://www.vet.utk.edu/diagnostic/endocrinology/index.php
the total cost will be about HALF of what it is if an intermediate lab
forwards it.

**Genetic gender and physical form gender do not always match for a
wide range of reasons (so there are XX males and there are XY females
who ironically often have hyper-female appearances with long legs and
extreme hourglass shape with very feminine faces and so on but can not
bear children as far as i know), and there are some blended continuum
situations, too, where an individual is both genders, or an individual
may be carrying some genetic material from an absorbed fetus, even one
of a different gender (chimerism which can sometimes be outwardly
silent and found later due to surgical, transplant, or even police
forensics work).

***The steroid aspect is why total loss of the function of both
adrenals requires both a steroid like Prednisolone or Dex (fluid
maintenance effects), and either fludrocort/Florinef or Proglycem
(electrolyte level and balance control) to not die of Addisons. Salt
in tiny added amounts may also be needed until the right balance of
the second med category is stable and the doses needs of these meds
can increase with added stresses and with weight gain.

Sukie (not a vet)

Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.miamiferret.org/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html

"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)
On change for its own sake: "You can go really fast if you just jump
off the cliff." (2010, Steve Crandall)

[Posted in FML 7345]