To Michelle:
 
--> He sent the tissue off to be analyzed ($30!  I told him about Bruce's
service, but forgot to take the address with me - sorry, but we have to go
back next week.  .  .) so hopefully we will hear about that soon, and
perhaps it won't be bad.
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        The address is:
 
        Major Bruce Williams
        Department of Veterinary Pathology
        Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
        Washington, DC  20306-6000
        (202) 576-2453/54
 
Also, for anyone who has other pets or vets that are dissatisfied with their
service, I also have a small histopathology business on the outside, where I do
dogs, cats, and other domestic and exotic species.  My price is only $19.  For
more information about submitting cases, call AccuPath at (301) 299-8041.
 
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-->What happens if they have to remove both adrenal glands?  Can they survive
well without them?
 
        No they can't.  Ferrets require at least part of one adrenal gland to
live.  Now, you can supplement them with prednisone and keep them going for a
while, but that generally doesn't work for a long time, due to inevitable dosing
problems or client compliance.  And as a general rule, when one adrenal gland is
removed, the problem stops.
 
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Also, the vet thought it was "nuts" to not feed the ferret for 48 hours
to prevent them from getting pancreatitis.  He said he's never had a case
develop due to this in the 50+ surgeries that he's done.  They fed her
the evening of the surgery.
 
        That's fine.  I hope he NEVER has any problems.  I know that in surgery
on all other species, NPO (nothing per os) is the rule.  Tom Kawasaki, who has
done literally hundreds, maybe over a thousand of these, fasts his patients, and
his word is good enough for me and the two ferrets that he has operated on for
me over the last year.  But if feeding the ferrets after surgery works well in
your vet's hands, then he should stick with it.
 
        To my knowledge, no one has ever done a retrospective of this type of
surgery to see what is the best post-operative procedure, so to each his own, I
suppose....
 
Bruce Williams
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[Posted in FML issue 0613]