Chocolate Moose had his second ultrasound today to try to determine which
adrenal gland is diseased.  He lost fur bilaterally late last year in two
quarter-sized patches on either side of his spine near his rump.
 
His first ultrasound was in December and didn't reveal anything.  I
scheduled exploratory surgery at Colorado State University in late December
and then canceled it because all his fur grew back during the first half of
December and the vets said there was a real possibility that if the disease
were not advanced enough, even a surgeon might not be able to tell which
adrenal gland to remove.
 
Of course, I knew from reading the FML that he was just in remission and it
was only a matter of time.  In January, he seemed to grow more lethargic
and we did a blood test that didn't turn up anything abnormal.  I then
opted to do a University of Tennessee adrenal panel.  The results came
back this week and they were positive for adrenal disease.
 
But the ultrasound didn't turn up anything conclusive.  My vets are now
going to check with the University of Tennessee to see if there is any
correlation between elevated adrenal values and the size of the diseased
gland.  We could see his kidneys, vena cava, intestines, stomach gas, and
liver, but no sign of an adrenal gland.
 
Both ultrasounds were conducted by people who have experience doing
ultrasounds on ferrets and who have often been able to find diseased
adrenal glands because usually, the diseased adrenal is enlarged and it
stands out.  Both ultrasounds showed a cyst in one of his kidneys, but
nothing else of concern.  The cyst -- a large dark spot bigger than the
usual features in a kidney -- may not even be a cyst but may be an
oversized collection sac that he was born with.
 
At this point, I don't know what else to do except schedule another
exploratory at CSU because the vets there have experience doing right
adrenalectomies if the right adrenal gland is the one that happens to be
affected.  The only problem is I won't be available to take a week to go
to Colorado until mid-March (spring break).
 
I ordered Dr. Weiss' video showing how to do cryosurgery and one of the
vets here is interested in looking at it when it arrives.  Of course, that
probably won't be in time to help Chocolate Moose because the vet would
also have to buy the equipment to do the cryosurgery and there may not be a
big enough market in Albuquerque to justify the expense.  I would really
like to have a vet here who can do the cryosurgery because I think it would
be a lot easier on the ferret and Dr. Weiss has been getting such good
results with it.
 
If anyone has any information about this situation that may be of help,
please let us know.  Thanks.
 
Linda, Chocolate Moose (Mom, I'm tired),
Lucky Charm, and Zipper
[Posted in FML issue 2958]