As of today (Sunday), it has been five days since Mandie's left adrenal
gland was removed and her right was debulked. Our "Manda Bear's" spunk
is back, meaning there is no sign of Addison's Disease from the
debulking. Her incision has remained clean and clear. The only concern
we have had is how long she has stayed on soup/mush and her strange
behavior during meals the first few days. The second problem resolved
itself, as her stomach, which was completely removed from the abdominal
cavity during the exploratory, started to feel better. She is now
eating some kibble, even if it has been softened in her soup. Mandie
is on her way to a fine recovery, as long as we can keep convincing
her to stop trying to climb every time she is allowed out for a bit
of exercise!

Please come visit our blog to read about Mandie's day-by-day progress.
Whether you've been through an adrenal exploratory before (as opposed
to a straight adrenal surgery, where the vet does directly for the
adrenal glands), or you've never had one performed on your ferret,
you'll find Mandie's journey informative. Picts aren't up yet, but
they will be soon.

I know some of you were more than just skeptical that Mandie -- first
confirmed by us as adrenal at less than 1.5-yr.-old. Lightning has
struck us twice. Winter, at 2.5-yr.-old is no doubt adrenal as well.
Our fellow, who could always be depended upon to be gentle to the old
and infirm, coax the shyest ferret into accepting a friend, teaching
other ferrets how to be a ferret, and could still roughhouse with
the big guys, is now strongly nipping humans, forcefully grooming
the ladies, ear-sucking, and pouncing on those that cannot defend
themselves. His tail is 75% bald with a tuft left on the end for now.

That gives us 4 adrenal cases out of 8 ferrets, if you count Mandie
as one still, since she hasn't yet recovered from her recent surgery.
Winter is a surgery candidate, due to his young age and prime overall
health, but Mandie's surgery drained our vet fund. You'll remember our
Mandie MayDay Raffle in April. It raised some of the funds needed for
her surgery, but most of the financial support needed came from PayPal
donations. Rhys and Codo will need deslorelin implant at or before
summer's end. We just had to place a large ferret.com order for basic
supplies. If you have any suggestions on how we could raise more vet
funds or would like to help, please email
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With respect,

Lori of Ferrets at Heart
Huron, Ohio
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http://ferretsatheart.com/

 ...and Rhys, Ayla, Codo, Mandie, Winter,
Holly, Charlie, and Templeton

[Posted in FML 7077]