I would like everyone to know the results so far about Jake. Some of you
may remember my plea a month or so ago. Jake seemed to have a urinary
problem which my vets could not diagnose. I asked Dr. Williams for advice.
Dr. Williams convienced me exploratory surgery was the only option left. He
introduced me to Dr. Weiss, who you may have seen here periodically.
   Yesterday (2/16/95) Dr. Weiss preformed exploratory surgery which
revealed an enormous adrenal turmor. It was larger than one of his
kidneys (for those of us not familiar with the insides of a ferret, the
tumor was just smaller than a walnut). It was on the right side and it
was attached to his liver and a major blood vessel. Dr. Weiss
successfully removed the tumor. However it was a very difficult and
complicated operation.
Bottom line Dr. Weiss gave Jake a 50/50 chance at pulling through.
   This morning at 8am Dr. Weiss called me with the best news. He told me
Jake was looking so good he thinks he can come home this evening! He's
still at some risk but I do believe the worst part is over.
   I am completely overwhelmed with Dr. Weiss. He successfully performed
an extremely difficult surgery (I have seen posts here where vets wouldn't
remove tumors on the right).
   Jake didn't loose hair which would have alerted me right away to
adrenal, and it turns out his urinary problem was actually him marking.
My advice to everyone here: Don't let a problem go too long without
answers and make sure your vets are really experienced with ferrets. I
have learned from this just because they will see ferrets doesn't mean
they really are knowledgeable in ferrets. Jake had symptoms of urinary
infection since early Dec. Dr. Weiss said if we hadn't gotten the tumor
when we did Jake would have died within the next month because the tumor
would have ruptered the major blood vessel it was attached to.
 
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, Dr. Williams and Dr. Weiss.
 
I can't thank them enough.
 
Tammy and still her fuzzy six pack thanks to the fantastic doctors!
   Jake, Ozzy, Randy, Zak, Sunshine, and Samantha
[Posted in FML issue 1109]