Hi Again,
Have been so preoccupied with other things and I wanted to catch up tonight
on what's been happening at our cave.
 
Report on Bonnie post-adrenalectomy, March, 1997: FANTASTIC!  She is now
fully "clothed".  All her fur came back better than ever.  She was affected
by the adrenal tumor (we did not biopsy it) from about 1 year on and is now
just about 4 (she's adopted so we're not sure).  She lost all her torso and
belly fur and it was sneaking down her tail before the surgery.  We had a
great closure as well and there is no visible scar line.  The vet did three
layers of internal sutures and they knitted beautifully (from the same vet
group that has been so great with our S.  Florida Ferret Rescue).  She has
resumed her usual cavorting, attacking Clyde, feet and plastic bags in that
order.  She is much more cuddly now however--actually sits at our feet to be
loved a bit and never did that previously.  She does not eat as much but has
gained weight--no longer a skinny minny.  So we are very glad with the
outcome.  She really recovered fully after only a week--showed no signs of
slowing down after the first day home or even any sign of pain.  I think she
hated her after surgery prednisone and antibiotics so much that she made
sure she got well really fast!
 
Now--we had never posted our Clyde problem, and I had read often about green
poops and tried a lot of your suggestions.  Our case turns out to be a bit
different so here it is.  Clyde is a big neutered male, a real sweetie.  He
is also about 4.  He has an enlarged spleen but seems to have no symptoms
from it.  For nearly 2 years he had recurrent bouts of green, slimy poop,
listlessness and not eating--we thought it was from furballs as it occurred
like clockwork at coat change season, and we did on occasion see fur in the
poop.  But this would recur as often as every 3-6 weeks and take one to two
weeks to resolve.  I would feed him our own duck soup concoction--the vet
gave us a rough idea of what to give him.  I would also give him vegetable
oil in between as that seemed to help and he LIKES to lap it up--but chooses
when he wants it and when he doesn't.  He would get better and I would
breath a sigh of relief then go on with our routines and he would take ill
again.  This was weird and we worried that one time we would lose him.
Bonnie was NEVER ill and had the same food etc.  Well, I finally figured out
that this started about the time we convinced him he loved peanut
butter--Bonnie is more adventurous and had loved it forever.  I've stopped
the peanut butter and he has not had another bout of this miserable problem
since.  Anyway--points out how important it is to always check for the
possibility of an odd food sensitivity.  At least for now that is my working
hypothesis.  His spleen is not so hard and enlarged it seems either--this
confuses me but there it is.  Also, he now begs for oil about every 2-3
weeks much like Bonnie does every morning for her peanut butter.  He never
does that in between--and these are "dumb" animals?
 
One last thing.  I've been reading the interesting coat color descriptions
and still can't figure out what we have.  Bonnie has very dark beautiful
markings--black tips, dark brown to beige undercoat; and very pretty light
mask etc.  She looks like what I would guess is sable.  Clyde--for want of a
better description--is ecrue.  There is a pinkish gray beigey tone to his
fur.  It is not white at the root and he has a well-define mask and markings
and darker paws.  Help!  What IS he?
 
Well, I've really rambled on this time but had a lot of thoughts to share
and wanted to say howdy.  Keep on helping us folks out there with your
stories and much warm fuzzies to those who have lost their babies recently.
I can't believe anyone will begin to call Bonnie and Clyde geriatric
soon--they are such balls of energy.
 
Love y'all
Gail, Bob, Bonnie and Clyde the Roaring 90's bandits in Miami.
[Posted in FML issue 1991]