This is from Dr. Deborah Kemmerer who also has the website
http://members.atlantic.net/~weah/ferrets.html .
 
I am asking her for cross-posting permission to the FHL, since she is
author and thus has copyright on this letter, so if i get it it will then
appear there in full.
 
At 1:22 PM -0500 1/24/02, Deborah W. Kemmerer, DVM wrote:
You are welcome to post what you like of this on the FML.
 
I actually am not the originator of the ligation surgery.  Dr. Leo Gates
in San Antonio, TX has probably done many more than I have.  The key to
survival is that most ferret who have adrenals grown in to the vena cava
have already established alternate blood flow through the vertebral veins,
because the adrenal has put so much pressure on the vena cava that blood
flow is already partially blocked.  I have a good set of xrays showing the
alternate blood flow with injected dye.
 
It's also important for these ferrets to get hormone supplementation
(Florinef) as the sudden withdrawal of the massive amounts of hormone
produced by these large tumors can be fatal.  I, too, was having low
survival rates until I started supplementation immediately post-op.  Now
my survival rate is about 90%.
 
I will have a video out pretty soon.  We're actually shooting two videos
concurrently.  The first one will be basic techniques such as blood
collection, bone marrow biopsy, iv cath installation, urinary cath
installation, and humane euthanasia.  It should be available in March
sometime.  The second video will include my right adrenalectomy technique.
We hope to have that out by the fall.
 
Hope that's helpful.
 
Dr. K.
[Posted in FML issue 3673]