Yesterday Binky had surgery for what we thought was an adrenal tumor.....
 
First, let me go over her symptoms.
-She has a thin, coarse coat and her tail is almost bald. She has no
 other bald spots - just all around thin.
-Her abdomen is droopy which I took to be the "loss of muscle mass" that
 I have read is a symptom.
-Her vulva is normal.
-I've seen her left back leg spasm twice one day a few weeks ago....haven't
 seen it happen since.  My normal vet said to keep an eye on here....I
 wanted a second opinion from someone more ferret knowledgable.  When I saw
 it I thought Insulinoma.
 
Here's the results of the second opinion:
-The vet felt a mass in her abdomen immediately and wanted to x-ray her.
-The xrays were sent to U. of Miss to be analyzed. The analysis showed a
 mass beside her kidney, and adrenal tumor was the diagnosis.  At this
 point, we were certain enough not to go on with more expensive tests and
 do an exploratory.  (Turns out the x-ray cost more than the surgery) A
 couple of times I wondered how her adrenal could be so large and she's not
 showing "raging adrenal symptoms".  I know that it's not usual to diagnose
 adrenal by an x-ray.  But, those thoughts were quickly replaced by..
 there's definitely something there....
-Add to all this...she's 5 years old.
 
Turns out the mass that showed up on the x-ray was fat around her
kidney!!!!  Her adrenals were fine and her pancreas also looked fine.
However, the vet was not very happy with the amount of fat he had to wade
through in order to get to her internal organs!!!  Her droopy abdomen was
not due her being adrenal ...she's fat!!!!  I feel soooo bad that we opened
her up to find out she's fat!!!!!  I'm glad she's not adrenal...but I feel
bad I put her through surgery.  She weighs 2 lbs and all that fat is in her
abdomen.
 
So now here's my new problem....I have 5 ferrets (1 other is also a senior
with no health problems).  I have been feeding Totally Ferret and allowing
free access.  Now I think I'm going to switch Binky and Buddy to the Senior
formula of TF....This means I will have to switch from free access to food
to feeding twice a day.  Is anybody out there doing this????  Is twice a
day enough?  All five ferrets are put in the cage at night and let out in
the ferret room during the day.  So my thought is in the morning the
seniors are separated and given their diet and the juniors theirs.  Then no
food during the day when they are in the ferret room.  At bed time, they
are again separated and given their food and put to bed in the cage.  And
then there's the stashing problem.... I give very minimal treats.  No
people food.
 
I'd like to hear from anyone who has their ferrets on a feeding schedule
or who has a ferret on a low fat diet!
 
Thanks!
Anita
Buddy, Binky, Bernie, Rosie, Ferra
[Posted in FML issue 2598]