First of all, thank you for all the private emails re: Pan. But I did
get several rather rude emails telling me that him itching and most
likely this lump were "so obviously Adrenal" and why haven't I "gotten
him to the vet" for treatment.

Like I said, this JUST showed up and when I posted to the FML and that
was around 12:25AM when I was putting them away for bedtime. There's
no emergency ferrets vets near me and since this didn't appear life
threatening I wasn't about to rush him in to some dog/cat 24 hour vet
that would charge me hundreds and know NOTHING about ferrets.

I'm also not new to ferret ownership. I've had them for over 15 years I
just hadn't had one with this issue before. But I have had several with
Adrenal and even more with Insulinoma. Pan was tested for Adrenal just
a few months ago after I lost my eldest ferret, Jack. I test all my
elderly ferrets at least once a year for Adrenal and get their blood
sugar checked for Insulinoma. He came back negative for both and other
than this lump has had no symptoms of anything going on. He's had very
oily skin and hence as itchy coat since I got him when he was one year
old. He's not itchy to the point where he loses hair or gets sores on
his skin, though. And that next morning I did notice his back claws
were definitely in need of a trim.

The redness is now COMPLETELY gone and the swelling has gone down as
well. I will take him in on Tue if he doesn't continue to improve. I
also isolated him in the upper level of the cage that night (I have a
Quality Cage Ferret Mansion with the locking ramps) so I could monitor
his pee. I took out the litter box and put down paper and he peed just
fine overnight.

Thank you for those that sent very helpful information but the few
of you that feel the need to be alarmists or condescending "experts",
please think before Emailing. You're not really helping which I thought
was what this list was all about.

Laura

[Posted in FML 7229]