Mike,

I had a male ferret 4 years old that was a late alter acted EXACTLY
as you are describing. I finially ended up running a Tennessee Panel
as I couldn't put my finger on anything else. We had run blood tests,
radiographs, ultrasound. The only thing I could say for sure is that I
knew he just wasn't himself. He didn't look happy in his own body. I
work for a board certified specialty surgeon so we did an exploratory
after the Tennessee results came back. He was a right adrenal and it
had already advanced well onto the vena cava. We did a temporary
occlusion of the vena cava and removed the entire right adrenal. It was
a bit of a prolonged recovery for him, but I am glad we didn't wait any
longer and got in there when we did. For a regular vet (non specialist)
I don't think this surgery would have had the same outcome. 5 months
later, we had the same signs and had to go back in to remove the left
adrenal gland. So.....my advice would be, don't wait and see. Get in
there and get that gland out!!

Susan Holland, LVT, VTS (anesthesia) 

[Posted in FML 5878]