Dear Sue:
 
>About a month ago i took my ferret snowflake in to the vet because
>he was losing wieght and his hair and he seemed to be having trouble
>urinating.  He was given antibiotics for an infection, and seemed better
>until a few days ago.  He started urinating a green pussy discharge, and
>i took him to the vet monday afternoon before i went to work.  The vet
>called this morning.  His bladder is like one big tumor.  Anything in it
>is basically just bloody fluid.  The vet said there isn't anything she can
>really do at this point.  He can hardly urinate at all, and he is in a
>lot of pain.  He also has adrenal tumors.  He's lost a lot of hair, he's
>gotten very agressive toward my female ferret and he hardly even wieghs
>anything.  Has anyone experienced this before?
 
What you are describing is a classic case of adrenal disease in a male
ferret, about as serious as it can get.  Hair loss, aggression, and
difficulty urinating - it doesn't get any more all-encompassing than this.
 
Treatment at this point should be done quickly - surgery to remove the
adrenal tumors, and in this case, mandatory administration of one of a
number of estrogen blockers to try to decrease the urinary problem.
 
The bladder is most likely not actually a tumor, but has been prevented
from being completely emptied due to prostatic cysts, which arise in male
ferrets due to the unremitting effects of estrogen.  Prostatic disease
in ferrets often presents as an initial difficultin urinating, which
progresses to a greenish discharge as the prostate swells and becomes
inflamed.  Eventually,the changes in the prostate are sufficient to choke
off urine flow.  When this occurs, the backpressure in the bladder, coupled
with urine stasis can cause severe life-threatening urinary dystfunction.
 
This is not a problem that can wait - action should be taken and taken
quickly.  Good information on dosages of medical treatments can be found
in the archives of the FMLor at www.ferretdoctor.com, but surgical removal
of the adrenal tumors is also likely to be mandatory at this time.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, dVM
[Posted in FML issue 3330]