Our Ives had stones throughout his urinary tract (poor guy - he must have
been in extreme discomfort for quite some time - ferrets are way too
stoic!).  Too make a long story short, the vet had to back flush him to
remove all the stones (from penis to bladder).  He was in surgery for almost
two hours.  Now to the point.  The vet rerouted his urethra to a new opening
just under his anus - in effect making a girl out of the poor guy.  Removing
the penis was NOT necessary, just sealing that end of the urethra was
enough.  The penis is slowly disappearing on its own.
 
The male urinary tract starts about halfway "up" the animal goes back almost
to the anus and then loops forward back to the penis.  The loop gives an
excellent opportunity for stones to get trapped.
 
As to the cause, hopefully your vet saved some of the stones for analysis.
Cheapest is to send the sample to Dr. Williams (email for details and form
to use).  Typically Dr. Williams is significantly cheaper than local path
labs.  In Ives case he made medical history because no one had seen similar
stones in anything, which doesn't help us for prevention.
 
We did have a serious heart to heart talk with Ives, asking him to let us
know sooner when he is in pain.  He promised to try! ;->
 
Greg Hastings                                  [log in to unmask]
Alice Dutton
Auburn, WA
 
When one finds himself in a hole of his own making, it is a good time
to examine the quality of workmanship.
[Posted in FML issue 1435]