As some of you know, last week Chocolate went in for a melatonin implant.
We were VERY worried about using them because the first time we did we
lost Eve.  Eve was in pretty good health other than adrenal.  She had
been adrenal for some time and we decided it would be safer NOT to do
surgery.  Everyone had talked about the great implants so on the advice
of us our vet ordered them.  Eve was running and playing that morning.
she got her implant.  and it was downhill from there.  The implant wasn't
removed because the company told our vet that it was normal and not to
worry.  A week after her implant she died.  The company paid to have her
tested at the University of Arizona to see what the cause of death was.
However no real conclusion could be found... that was October 2005.

Chocolate went in for surgery in Feb.  She is a very small ferret and
when they opened her up it was a right adrenal.  We opted not to have
it removed because I didn't feel it could be removed safely.  The vet
agreed.  Well, her vulva got pretty big and she was losing weight.  so
we finally decided to try the implant with her, knowing the risk but
also knowing it would be best for her if it worked.

So, she went in last week.  And she is doing pretty good so far.  No
improvement yet of course.  but she isn't getting worse.  Still active
and still eating and drinking.  So I am hoping that everything goes ok.

We had Kuri in about 2 months ago for surgery and she had a hard time
going under and when they finally had her stable the vet checked all her
lympnoids.  they were all enlarged.  We opted NOT to do the surgery for
fear of spreading what he believes is lymphoma on top of adrenal.  After
Chocolate went through the implant we decided to have Kuri go through it
too because she was losing hair quickly.  She just had her implant
yesterday.  She seems more tired.  but still eating and playing.  So we
will give it a little time.

If either girl shows signs of slowing down too much. we will have the
implant removed.

Joanne Ruffner
Ferret Corner Shelter
[Posted in FML issue 5281]