>He is 5 years old and had both adrenal removed a year in a 1/2 ago.  One
>adrenal was surgically removed and the other was frozen with cryosurgery.
>
>electrolytes checked regularly (sodium & potassium levels in particular)
>and they we're in normal limits he would not need hormone replacements.
 
That is essentially true, although you should also keep a close eye on
activity, appetite etc., which tends to go out the window before you see
marked electrolyte abnormalities.
 
>Bandit never has needed them and seemed fine up until he got ECE from my
>new kit-it's been about 3 months post ECE and his stools are still bad and
>he urinates frequently and he leaves urine on his belly (something
>somewhat >new).  As you suggested I had a urinalysis done and the results
>were negative.  The Doctor said there was no blood in the urine and the
>pH level was normal and the concentration was what it should be.  He said
>there was some protein in the urine but that was normal.
 
That is all correct.
 
>Bandit's been loosing hair on his tail and back paws and I can actually
>see little hairs fall off of him.  It really looks as if it's a seasonal
>shed-it's not shedding anywhere else and his coat is soft and shiny.
 
I would not be so quick to ascribe it to a season shed, especially when the
hair loss is on the back feet, and he is having urinary abnormalities...
 
>Question: What else do I need to ask him in terms of the results of the
>urinalysis?  What other types of things do you look for??
 
At this point, I would consider the possibility of recurrent adrenal
disease.  I am not saying rush him back to surgery, but several of these
symptoms do fit.  A UT panel is certainly one possibility here.
 
>He said a culture wasn't necessary.
 
I agree - with no obvious inflammation, bacterial cystitis does fade from
view in terms of rule-outs.
 
>Question: This Dr. seems to believe that maybe Bandit has Addison's
>Disease since he doesn't have any adrenals.  He also said that to check he
>would need to take at least 3cc's of blood to check his cortisol levels
>and he would have put him out for that, which he really doesn't want to do.
 
I don't think that assessing cortisol levels will identify Addison's
disease.  It appears that this assessment is simply being made on one
feature of the clinical history, and is not supported by clinical data or
symptoms.
 
>bloodwork done about a month ago and everything came back normal....This
>vet suggests I call the vet that did the operation and ask him exactly
>what he did during the surgery.  He also explained to me that when I had
>Bandit's adrenals removed I should have had ran a pathology on the adrenals
>to see if they we're cancerous.  He could not believe that the vet who did
>the operation wouldn't insist on this because Bandit could have cancerous
>adrenal tumor left over-since he's not needing hormone replacements.
 
I have to agree.  Gross inspection of enlarged adrenals is useless as a
replacement for pathology - some malignancies are not even large enough
to cause the gland to enlarge, and some benign tumors may approach a
centimeter in size.  Metastasis is so rare with adrenal tumors that it is
of little benefit to use metastasis as criteria for malignancy or not.
 
There is certainly a possibility of incomplete removal and regrowth of a
malignant tumor, and it is something that I think we should be strongly
considering - not Addisons.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce H. Williams, DVM, DACVP
 
Join the Ferret Health List at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list
[Posted in FML issue 3452]