Hi everyone!  I had written awhile ago asking about possible wholeness
or the likelyhood of an adrenal tumor in my 1 yr. old MF male ferret,
because he was very interested in my fixed female, and also had dry
skin, and some hair loss, I now have an answer, and some advice on
what not to trust!  Weehawk was indeed partially whole.  My vet, who
is not very ferret knowledgeable, had tested him for testosterone, and
the test had come out negative, so we both assumed he had an adrenal,
and the closest doctor who would operate on an adrenal is 2 1/2 hrs
away in NH, so weehawk and I went for a trek.  Dr. Dutton tested his
urine and found sperm in it, so he then told me that the tests for
testosterone are usually animal specific, so these tests will usually
not work for ferrets!  So I was very thankful that it was not a tumor,
but we still had the problem of his sexual interest in my poor little
female ferret, she was very sick of having a wet ear all of the time!
Talk about single minded...  So Dr. Dutton went in to see if he could
find what was missed, an hour later he found a little stump which he
removed and sent to Dr. Williams (Thank you Dr. Williams!  I felt very
happy to know it was going to someone who is so wonderful and ferret
knowledgeable!) to see if it really is testicular tissue.  Now here is
my question for the vets and for the breeders out there, if that
wasn't all of the testicular matter, can I leave him partially whole?
Will his interest in my fixed female lessen once spring is over?  If
we are lucky that was all of the problem and he will be ok once the
hormones are out of his system, but if it wasn't all of the problem,
then I would be happy to leave him be, if I can just know that I have
to separate him from her during the "rutting" season, and they will
again be able to play together the rest of the year...Any advice from
those of you who have whole ferrets is very welcome!  Also, does
anyone have an address or phone number for Marshall Farms?
Thanks for listening!  It is hard, cause there are so few close by who
know anything about ferrets, gotta figure out how to entice ferret
knowledgeable vets to Vermont!
krystal, Middlebury, Vt  area code 802
weehawk "what are you trying to do, turn me into Frankenferret?!"
silk "where did ya go? why didn' I get to come? WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU!"
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[Posted in FML issue 1206]