Dear X - While I understand your frustration, this has always been the
case with the panel.  Unfortunately, there is just not enough demand for
the test to be run on an as-needed basis.  Every time the test needs to
be run, there is a minimum of three that need running - the patient's
serum, a positive control that is known to be elevated, and a negative
control, which should be zero.  So for the lab, the price of running one
test is actually that of running three.  If you run ten or fifteen tests,
it decreases the price quite a bit.  Running the test "on demand" would
probably jack the price up considerably.
 
Also remember, that the Univ. of Tenn. does the ferret community quite a
favor by running this unique test.  No other labs perform it, and most
large labs that say they do simply send it down there.  Without UT, we
would have a lot of ferrets with borderline cases that might never get
picked up.
 
On the other hand, if you have a ferret that exhibits classic clinical
signs of adrenal disease, as several other list members have already said -
sometimes this money is best spent on surgery.  The behavior that this
ferret has shown (and you have illustrated so well with your picture)
would probably be enough to take to your vet for surgery.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce H. Williams, DVM, DACVP
 
Join the Ferret Health List at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list
 
P.S. - Would you object (or your ferrets object) if we ran this image
on the front page for a little while - it's quite illustrative....
[Posted in FML issue 3437]