>One of our ferrets, Porthos, has been losing hair on his tail and back, has
>lost weight, and has been overly attacking the female ferrets (he's about
>2-3 years old male neutered).  We think it's adrenal disease.
 
>Buddy has been visiting the vet regarding his adrenal glands, and so far the
>recommendation is no surgery.  He has lost about a third of his body hair,
>and his skin is warmer to the touch than it should be, although his body
>temperature is fine.
 
Our Tabu, who is 9, also has adrenal tumors.  She was about 7 when they
started, but we didn't know what they were at the time.  She was finally
diagnosed this past summer.  We considered surgery, Lysodren treatement, and
doing nothing.  We finally opted for doing nothing because of her age.  We
have beefed up her calories.  In addition to her always full bowl of Iams,
twice a day she gets a "concoction" of baby food (chicken, turkey or beef),
some heavy whipping cream, Ferretone, some Brewer's yeast, and a drop each
of vitamin B-12 and B-complex.  I came up with this mixture based on input
from our vet as well as Dr. Susan Brown on America On-line.  Since we
started this, Tabu has put on a nice amount of weight, and her energy level
is much higher.  We really started giving her this stuff because she also
has insulinomas, which often go hand-in-hand with adrenal tumors.  Not only
does this help balance her sugar lows, but it's also been an excellent way
to get her Prednisone into her.  I can't be sure if this is also helping her
adrenals, but they have been in remission lately, which means she's not the
little baldy that she used to be.  I'm prepared for her to lose her hair
again, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  When she had much less hair, I
also noticed that her skin temperature was warmer.  I think that they just
have a harder time regulating their body temp when they don't have hair.
Her sleeping box is lined with part of an old mattress pad, a favorite sweat
shirt, and a tiny afghan that my Mom knit for her.  That way, she can decide
to bury herself if she's cold or lay on top of all of that great stuff if
she's warm.
 
I think that if Tabu had been a year or two younger when we figured out that
she had adreanal tumors, we probably would have considered the operation
more strongly.  However, from everything that I've read, non-malignant
adrenal tumors are not painful, and they progress very slowly.  Must be
true, since Tabu has now had hers for about 2 1/2 years.  For Porthos, my
personal opinion is that you really don't need the ultrasound.  If you
decide to do the operation, it should be pretty evident to the vet when they
open him up.  Have you read the FAQ on adrenals that's located on the
internet.  I found that very informative, and I would give a copy of it to
your vet before the operation.  I think that the blood work is really
important.  If you have access to AOL, you might also read the information
that Dr. Susan Brown posts out there on adrenals.
 
Thanks for letting me share this info.
 
Susie
 
"It's just another day in paradise!"
[Posted in FML issue 1812]