In January of this year, we noticed Arnold, our 6.5 yr old male looking a
little thin, a little wobbly and his hairless tail was spreading a little
more.  He had a few hairs left on it so I thought it was just shedding.  I
took him to our vet who did a blood glucose test and the results indicated
he was insulinomic.  His reading was 40.  We agreed that surgery was the
only viable option and it was scheduled for 2 weeks later.  In the meantime
we tried to fatten him up using the old standby, duck soup and some added
ingredients...like chromium and brewer's yeast.
 
His weight came back like gangbusters and the vet felt he was strong enough
for surgery.  I read just about everything I could about pancreas and
adrenal tumours, and told the vet that since she was going inside
anyway...perhaps take a look at the adrenal glands to see if they were
abnormal.  She said she would.
 
Later that day she phoned to say that Arnold was ready to go home, and that
she had found 3 growths on his pancreas, and his adrenal glands looked OK.
We were sure the hair loss was caused from stress due to a rather obnoxious
female we had rescued.
 
The lab results came back to show the growths that were removed were only
fat cells.  We were happy that he came through the surgery OK and were
prepared to treat him with a special diet for the rest of his life.  After 2
more months, Arnold had no hair left on his body, and only very short hair
on his head,neck and legs.  Back to the vet for another checkup.  His
glucose level was about the same, and the vet said it had to be Adrenal
problems.  I was a little curious since she had said his adrenals were OK 2
months ago, but people make mistakes and maybe she had just missed seeing
something.  I enquired what the next surgery would cost, hoping for a small
discount as the first surgery was rather expensive and maybe if things went
better then, we wouldn't be discussing the second surgery now.  I was then
informed the vet didn't feel qualified to tackle the adrenal surgery and she
suggested I find a better qualified vet.
 
I accepted this, because she had told me before the surgery that she wasn't
overly familiar with ferret surgeries, and had operated on only a few of
them.  I do not feel badly about her not paying closer attention to the
adrenal glands during the first operation, mainly because I would rather
have her not "fooling" with something she did not feel comfortable doing,
and to have her make the decision not to attempt such surgery the second
time only makes me think she did the right thing during the first surgery.
I was unable to find a vet on the island where we live, so I checked out
various other ferret/fml people and found "Dr. B" in Vancouver.  Ferreteers
in Vancouver will all know to whom I refer.
 
Monday morning, at 0400 hrs we left home for the long trip to Vancouver for
a 0900 hrs appointment.  Dr. B took one look at Arnold and said...."Now
that's a Bald Ferret!" " Call me around 2:00 pm" We then visited an fml/vfml
lady named Sheena and waited.
 
When I called, Dr. B told me that Arnold was sleeping off the drugs and
things went well.
 
One adrenal was removed, a lesion was taken from the pancreas, as well as a
portion of the pancreas "for good measure".  Some mast cell tumors were also
removed from his body
 
The lab results were faxed to me the next day........the lesion from the
pancreas were insulinoma. The adrenal gland was carcinoma.
 
Arnold is eating well and getting into trouble.  We are very happy with the
results and only wish that other ferrets had the same chances as Arnold .
to view our coatless man....as well as other pics ...and Dr. B himself...
take a drive to <http://www.seaside.net/homepage/rbever>.  I urge those of
you that are not familiar with adrenal disease to view Arnold, so you know
what to look for.  I also have some post op pics taken the following day
that I will let you download so you will know what to expect if your ferret
is lucky enough to get this surgery.
[Posted in FML issue 1920]