I just wanted to comment on Regina's post about adrenal symptoms...
 
We always hear of the psychological symptoms in male ferrets related to
adrenal problems.  I just wanted to point out that the females can have
problems too.  I nearly had to euthanize my girl Popcorn almost a year
ago, entirely due to psychological issues.
 
She was 7 years old (now 8), and was never the type to do any of the
'typical' ferret behavior of stashing things.  Over a relatively short
period of time, she became extremely driven to steal all of the socks and
underwear out of the laundry and hide them.  If you took them away, or
tried to stop her, she would get VERY upset.  She would even gently take
my finger and try to drag ME into her hidey-spots.  Endearing, but - for
her - VERY wrong.  Then, when Graham went into the hospital, she started
scratching the gate to her room at all hours of the day and night.  Again,
extreme, driven, compulsive behavior.  Way, way beyond normal mourning.
She was 7 years old, adrenal, and insulinomic.  There was absolutely no way
that her health would have held out under this self imposed psychological
and physical stress.  I was devastated to think that I was going to have
to euthanize this relatively healthy (physically) ferret to keep her from
suffering.  It was a terrible, terrible time.  Ultimately, I decided to do
whatever I could to keep Graham alive, hopefully at least helping the
gate-scratching behavior.  (He was having urine blockages due to adrenal -
I was going to put him down, since he was inoperable and I couldn't bear
the thought of him dying that way, suffering for hours first while I was
at work.  But, he was also in pretty bad shape physically compared to
Popcorn.)
 
Thanks to the wonderful Internet, they had already been down to Dr. Weiss
for adrenal surgeries about 9 months or so prior to all this.  So I called
him again to see what could be done, and ended up in his Lupron study.
 
We were very hopeful for Graham with the Lupron, but Dr. Weiss had never
seen symptoms like Popcorn's, and warned me that it might not be adrenal at
all.  But, we gave it a try anyway (she also had obvious adrenal symptoms).
Approximately 5 weeks later, just when I was thinking it wasn't going to
work, within about 3 days the changes were dramatic.  Both had thick fur
growing in, and complete reversal of Popcorn's psychotic symptoms.  Yay!
 
Lupron gave Graham a GREAT 6 months.  It doesn't sound like long, but it
really is when it's your ferret who is still running around - and not just
clinging to life, but actually healthy again!  And, Popcorn is still going
strong today.  Even when Graham died, she didn't experience any of the same
behaviors.  I think her 2nd dose is about to run out.  I've seen some
thinning on her tail recently.  But no return of the behaviors yet.
 
So, if your little girls start exhibiting weird (for her) or 'maternal'
behaviors, don't discount that there could be something very wrong.  It
may be endearing to be pulled by your finger into the hidey-hole, but it
doesn't mean that she's suddenly expressing her love for the first time in
6 years, it means that she's not a happy little ferret.  I suspect that
these symptoms are largely ignored, since they are cute, stereotypically
ferret, and more socially acceptable than the male's mating behavior.  Or,
I could be completely off-course, and Popcorn was just a bizarre exception.
But, I really doubt that.  Perhaps an extreme case, but I've heard of many
other ferrets who have acquired similar behaviors in their geriatric years.
Since I'm not as integrated into the ferret community as I used to be, I've
never followed through with other owners to research if there is a link.
But I do strongly suspect it, and am curious as to how often it occurs.
 
So, how about a discussion... Those of you with female ferrets who, later
in life, suddenly had dramatic behavior changes (good or bad) - What were
the behaviors?  And, was the ferret diagnosed as adrenal?  If you treated
the adrenals, medically or surgically, did the behaviors go away?
 
Since I'm bound to get replies like "I've had 3 girls with adrenal tumors,
none of them ever showed behavior changes."  I'll address that now.
Remember, not ALL of the males exhibit behavioral symptoms.  (Graham
certainly didn't)  But it can happen.  I'm curious if the same holds true
with the females.
 
- Nancy
 
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Nancy Stephens
[log in to unmask]
Newark, DE
[Posted in FML issue 2840]