Hello All:
 
Five weeks ago I posted that we were beginning experimental adrenal
treatments using a relatively new (in ferrets anyway) drug named Anipryl.
I've been making weekly posts on what we've seen so far.
 
Quick background
----------------
Newone is an 8 year old neutered female who has had inoperable adrenal
tumors since she was 6.  Most of her hair is gone, but the use of colloidal
silver seems to have stabilized her disease.
 
Puck is a 6 year old albino neutered male, with intact scent glands.  He was
diagnosed with adrenal in 1995 and had the right adrenal removed (the easy
one).  This past Christmas he suffered a nasty bite to the neck which got
severely infected, had to be operated on, and which seemed to retrigger his
adrenal.  Hair regrowth in the wounded area was very slow, and his hair
began thinning out along portions of his spine and tail in classic adrenal
fashion.
 
In response to these problems, our vet suggested treatment with Anipryl,
which she has been using successfully in dogs.  Dosage is .5mg per day per
weasel, with the pill hidden in a raisin.  We began treatment on 2/20/98.
 
Results So Far
--------------
 
Our vet believed we would not see any results until about 1 month of
treatment.
 
We're continuing to see increased water intake (and outgo) on the part of
the ferrets being treated.  We still haven't had another blood test on Puck
to check the kidneys (though the first test showed no problems at all) and
we continue to believe it's a function of the drug's mealy taste.
 
Puck's hair is nearly completely grown in now.  Only the very tip of his
tail remains a bit ratty, and there's stubble there.  His new hair is a bit
yellowish, part of which seems to be 'normal' since it didn't wall wash out.
 
Puck's neck wound is still healing, though slowly.  He continues to scratch
at it and make it bleed, though it's now to the point that it's nothing
deeper than a big scab.
 
Puck's weight is still a bit down from two weeks ago, though we attribute
this to a bad cold that has been making its rounds through the gang.  If it
continues we'll put him on Amoxycillin, though we'd rather avoid it if we
can so as not to complicate the Anipryl testing.
 
Puck continues to be alert, bright, and playful.
 
Newone remains much the same as she was, bouncy and alert.  Her energy
levels remain higher than they were before treatment, and when we let her
upstairs a couple of nights ago she explored everything and ate every treat
(cheese, raisins, Corn Pops) we gave her.  Her very slight hair growth has
continued, though again nothing at all like Puck's, and it doesn't seem to
be getting much longer.
 
Summary
-------
Puck:    Hair essentially regrown, slight weight loss; alert and happy
Newone:  Hair growth short and patchy in small areas, healthier skin,
         alert and happy
 
Information
-----------
We've been asked by a number of people if we're sure that the results we've
seen are due to the Anipryl, as ferret medical science is generally of the
opinion that adrenal disease in ferrets is NOT a function of the pituitary
gland (which Anipryl regulates).
 
We concur that there is some possibility that Puck's hair and general
improvement could be mere remission, or that possibly he wasn't suffering
from adrenal at all.  We don't *believe* this to be the case, however, and
in any event it would not explain Newone's similar though more muted
results.
 
One test we could perform would be to remove Puck from Anipryl after the
treatment has run its course.  If in fact the Anipryl is regulating his
adrenals, then removal should cause adrenal symptoms to reappear.  We're
not sure we want to do that though....as an engineer, I recognize the value
in the experiment, but as a ferret daddy I don't want to do anything to
hurt my boy!
 
We do know that some other vets have begun looking at this as a possible
treatment, so hopefully we'll have more information in the next few months.
 
We'll post results of Puck's next blood test once it's done.
 
Steven and Colleen
[Posted in FML issue 2262]