I appreciate Joanne R. letting everyone know of the situation with her
ferret Eve and the Melatonin implant.  I truly understand Joanne's sense
of loss.  I've gone through many losses of my furries over the past 20
yrs., and sometimes there are no clear reasons for why they passed.  It
may be difficult to know, in light of the necropsy findings, if other
factors lent a hand or not in Eve's passing.  I read some literature
about the implants, and it appeared that the casing was safe and not
known to break down over time.  They had ferrets which had received
at least 10 implants, and were doing well.  (I wonder if this is the
same casing material used for the i.d. chip implants) ???
 
I have two ferrets, both approx.  age 4, who developed adrenal disease
approx. 6 mos. ago.  I had been going with homeopathic therapy with
adrenal ferrets, and also other problems such as insulinoma and various
other external and internal tumors.  The results were usually very good,
so that surgery wasn't required.  I really wanted to give the melatonin
implants a go with Phoenix and Keesha, because they were difficult to
give the oral homeopathic supplements to.  Both ferrets had the surge of
hormones, and they were being aggressive to each other mostly.  They were
going through the mating routine, and I constantly had to pry Phoenix
from Keesha's neck, so I just had to separate them, giving them different
play/ exercise times.  Keesha's vulva was very swollen, but neither her
or Phoenix were really losing any fur.  Phoenix had a couple slightly
thinned areas, but nothing to speak of.  So I had my vet do the implants
on both ferrets at the same time.  Within 2 - 3 weeks, the aggressive
behavior eased.  Within another week, I could tell Keesha's vulva wasn't
as red, the discharge stopped, and the swelling appeared to be going
down.  Each week after, all the symptoms lessened.  Both ferrets are due
for their second implant in early February.  If their adrenal problem
goes into a remission state, then my vet, Melatek and I will decide about
continuing the implants.  So far, so good with Phoenix and Keesha's
experience with the Melatonin implants.
 
I suppose there are factors to think about, such as the time frame the
ferret begins to show signs of adrenal, and when the implants are given;
the ferret's age, etc.  I suppose like people going through new medical
therapy, some ferrets with the Melatonin implants will respond well, and
others will have specific biological or genetic factors in place, so that
the therapy will yield negative results, or show no effect at all.
 
Anyway, I'll keep posting on my two ferrets and how they continue to do
with the implants.
 
Phyllis Berker
[Posted in FML issue 5076]