I have to agree with Jeff's post about making assumptions and jumping
on the bandwagon.

A year or so ago, I took in a ferret from another rescue. While
elderly, he seemed in good health except that he had adrenal symptoms.
Within a couple of days, I took him to my vet for a general check-up
and a Deslorelin implant. LESS THAN A DAY LATER, he started going
downhill very rapidly; weak, dehydrated, losing weight. I ended up
taking him to my vet about 9:00 that night (luckily, my vet clinic is
also a 24/7 ER clinic) to get the tech on duty to check his BG. Little
did we know what we were about to go through. His BG was fine. A vet
was there tending to another emergency, so she jumped in. She called
my primary ferret vet with symptoms and he said it could only be a
tortion, and the only relief would be immediate surgery. We proceeded
to surgery. It was indeed an intestinal tortion (very uncommon) and so
much of his intestines were already destroyed, we let him go on the
table. To do otherwise would have left him to a very painful death.

That being said, had we not opened him up, his symptoms, and subsequent
death, would have been "blamed" on the Deslorelin implant. After all,
there was nothing else it could have been! While I too have an open
mind about it, and know that any treatment or medication can cause
problems, I don't think we should make these kinds of assumptions
about medical conditions. You could discourage other ferret owners
from trying this route. If you want to "prove" the implant caused the
problem/death, then make sure you have a complete necropsy done in
order to rule out other causes. Anyone who has owned ferrets for any
length of time knows they can go from seemingly healthy to dead in a
very short time.

I don't doubt that the implant could push a compromised ferret over
the edge, but that doesn't mean the implant caused the death.

Katharine
Florida

[Posted in FML 7414]