To Mrs.Duck: Please do not rule out adrenal disease on Molly.  I learned a
very valuable lesson with my little Weezul.  Weezul was only 2 1/2 yrs.old
when she began losing hair on her tail.  That was in Jan.  of this year and
by Feb.  she had a swollen vulva.  She went into exploratory surgery on 2-7
and the adrenals looked fine but the vet removed some ovarian tissue.  She
did not respond to the surgery and began to loose more body fur and exhibit
"mothering" behavior, dragging my other ferret around by her scruff and
constantly licking her.  The vet did not know what else to do so I found
another vet who referred me to a small animal spec.  Another exploratory
surgery and the adrenals looked fine and some uterine tissue was removed.
No luck.  I tried mating Weezul, HCG shots, I was desperate.  The same
surgeon agreed to do another surgery in June after some wonderful advise
from Pam Grant & Dr.  Williams.  Their advise was that just because the
adrenals look normal and are the same size does not mean they are not
cancerous.  Weezul had a 3rd surgery and this time the right adrenal was
slightly larger, it turned out cancerous.  Weezul now has a beautiful coat
of fur and is happy & healthy.  There is a blood test for adrenal disease
offered by the Univ.  of Tennessee, it is described in Pamela Greene's
adrenal disease package.  Good luck with Molly.
 
To Bob from the ShowMe state: I live in the Land of Odds..I mean Oz.  Isn't
Bobbi from Ferret Hotline just wonderful.  I have adopted many ferrets from
Bobbi and they have all stolen my heart.  I now have Coco and Niki, two 8
yr. olds.  Coco is recovering from surgery, she had a large mass removed
from her abdomen which turned out to be a leiomyosarcoma (sp?).  She is
doing great and Niki was diagnosed with a 3rd degree heart block and she is
now on medication.  I also have Delilah, 8 yrs.  old who had surgery for
adrenal disease and insulinoma.  The bad news is that the right adrenal was
too close to the vena cava and could not be removed.  She had three tumors
removed from her pancreas.  A week after surgery her blood glucose was 335!
I had to give her insulin shots for over a month before her pancreas started
producing insulin.
 
I am sorry for rambling on but I don't get to write in very often due to
work load.  I love reading the ferret list and learning about the fuzzies
and their human parents.
 
Keep on dooking....
                                      Judith Gallipeau and
                                      Weezul,Teebone,Delilah,
                                      Coco & Niki.
[Posted in FML issue 1388]