Hi all,

I previously posted about Xena's intestinal problems as well as the vet
saying she had a mass in her abdomen. Now I noticed that she is has
lost the hair on the bottom of her feet. Does this mean she has adrenal
disease? She had her first des implant put in Apr. 2013 and the second
in May 2014. I did this for prevention, as I didn't think she had
adrenal disease at that time. I have not yet contacted my vet regarding
the hair loss. What would be a better test to do, if any, to determine
the problem: ultrasound or the TN hormone panel? When the vet felt the
mass in May he suggested doing an ultrasound, but some of you said it
probably wasn't worth doing if there were no viable treatment,
especially if the mass was on her stomach or intestine.

For the intestinal/poop problem, I gave her Amoxicillin for 20 days and
during that time her poop was well formed and not smelly. Now that the
treatment is over, it is becoming loose, sometimes spotty and somewhat
smelly. I had the same experience when I stopped giving her Tylan
powder, which Jeff was kind enough to send. I would have continued
giving it (even though my vet didn't like it) but she refused to eat
her soup with the Tylan in it. I tasted her soup and could see why she
was rejecting it; it is extremely bitter especially the way she likes
her soup, which is very watery like broth. And it is important for her
to eat her soup because she has insulinoma and must get her pred.

I am very distressed about all of this and don't know what to do next.
Xena is going down the same road as my last female, Minky, who had
the poop problems as well as adrenal disease. When the implant wasn't
working, I got her a Lupron shot but that didn't help either and I
believe she died of adrenal disease.

Another issue is the elevated liver enzymes, which both ferrets had at
the time of testing in May. Spooky had high ALT and Xena had high ALT
and Alk Phosphatase. From what I read by Dr. Bruce Williams, courtesy
of Sukie, these enzymes will be elevated if the ferrets haven't eaten
for several hours, which was the case. So currently I am not worried
about this. My vet wanted to do U/S of both of them for this. Spooky
seems otherwise healthy though he has lost his playmate, as Xena
stopped running around with him quite awhile ago and my own health
issues prevent me from playing with him the way he likes.

Any info/advice on any of these issues would be appreciated greatly.
I am so sad for my poor Xena and freaked out about all of this because
it seems no matter what I try to do, they still get ill. On July 15, I
will have had these 2 ferrets only 2 years. They are both approximately
5 or 6 years old.

Thanks, and wishing all of your ferrets better health.

Shron

[Posted in FML 8139]