To Tammy with Jake and his dysuria (that's what we call it when you have troble
peeing):
 
        New advice - Let's skip the ultrasound and go right for the abdominal
exploratory.  Not many vets are doing much ultrasound, and it sounds like $200
that might be better spent elsewhere.  I would suggest the vet go in and look
around.  A spot to look closely at would be the adrenal and the prostate.  We
are seeing a significant number of cases of male ferrets with concomitant
hyerpestrogenism due to adrenal lesions and secondary cystic prostatic diseases
which impinges on the urethra and makes urination difficult.  The key is to
remove the offending adrenal and diseact out as many of the cysts (if there are
more than one) as possible.
 
        If it was my ferret - go right for the surgery - ultrasound generally
only raises questions that can only be answered at surgery.
 
       Bruce Williams, DVM                 Department of Veterinary Pathology
       [log in to unmask]         Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
       (202) 782-2600/2602                 Washington, D.C.  20306-6000
[Posted in FML issue 1086]