>I was just wondering how common it is that an adrenal tumour grows in
>the abdomen, with the adrenal glands being healthy?  I have never read
>about this in any of my books or on the Internet...
 
Hi, Ulrike, I don't know the rates for the above situation, but you might
find an unusual thing found Wednesday in 3 and 1/2 year old Sherman to
be intellectually interesting.  (We are waiting for pathology results to
find out exactly what is going on.  Nothing had been consistent with
adrenal neoplasia in him except maybe his fur loss and that could have
been just because he has been on Pred a long time for IBD.  A high dose
Lupron challenge was tried anyway without effect, because it would not
hurt him and there was a chance of it helping.  Since he was going in for
GI biopsies his adrenals got looked at, The right was perfect.  In fact,
the left adrenal itself looked okay, but he had a huge number of large
and leaky blood vessels going to the left adrenal and was actually at
risk of bleed-out.  So far, we don't know why.  A deformity/variation
(something we did see once before in our 21 years with ferrets)?  A
vascular response to feed a malignancy?  Something else?  It is truly
unusual.  We are hoping to not get bad news with the pathology results
and meanwhile he is healing well despite several ligations and multiple
vascular clips.  It is possible that his removed adrenal itself is normal
but the blood vessels may not be.  Anyway, we hope the pathology comes
back safe for him and his future.
   ---
 
Coughing which is persistent, or marked, or otherwise unusual calls not
just for a vet appointment but for a chest x-ray.  The medical approaches
for treatment depend on what is found: pneumonia, cardiomyopathy, asthma,
etc.
 
Ferrets do not get "colds".  Believe me, research places would love it
if they did because they be used to come up with new approaches, but
they just do not get rhinoviruses.  What they do get include but are
not limited to influenza, pneumonia, pleurosy, sometimes allergies, and
sinus infections (which they seem to pick up quite easily form our
experience -- even more so than influenza).  I just recently wound up
inadvertently sharing a sinus infection with three ferrets despite
precautions.  It is VERY common for people to mistake sinus infections
and even mild bouts of influenza for colds.  (BTW, some FML ferrets
are ferrets who were used to help develop influenza vaccines and then
adopted out.)
 
NEVER use human meds on your ferrets unless a vet has okayed them
BEFOREHAND -- no drops, no sprays, no pills, no whatever.  There have
been way, way, way too many stories of ferrets who have died or have
gotten liver damage this way, usually because someone has equated "over
the counter" or "natural" with safe, or hasn't understood that meds
expire, or hasn't realized that a meds which works for one condition
can be dangerous with other conditions.  Too many ferrets die this way
and it is totally avoidable.
[Posted in FML issue 4270]