Not only do adrenal problems cause itching, but liver ones do, too, at
times.  Have you tried rubbing her down with virgin olive oil and then
toweling her?  Sometimes oiling the skin that way gives a good deal of
relief from itching and olive oil is the safest way to go on that score
that I know about.
 
Anyone remember how Meltdown used to rebound many times over from
downturns in her last extended time with cardiomyopathy?  Seven of Six
is like that with her Level 3 A/V Heart Node Block.  She keeps having
downturns so bad that even the vets think that it's about time -- then
sometimes with medication readjustments or additions, or sometimes
through the strength of her own body and will she goes and rebounds.
Right now she is playing outside the ferret room.  Sevie had been playing
with little mousies but Steve just heard a clunk and she'd climbed on a
stool and jumped into the bathtub!  This is a little albino of unknown
age of at least 5 (but very possibly a good deal -- years -- older) who
has no communication between her heart chambers and has been in that
condition for 4 and 1/2 months.  It's a terminal condition and Sevewever
has two other medical problems that could be terminal (one more likely
than the other) if this one wasn't most likely to take her first.  Yet,
here she is rebounding so often and going to live on a while longer with
fun and games.  Thought that the list would like to know.
 
Ah, I was also one of those babies whose physicians tried without luck to
get some family members to stop smoking near me.
 
I have a suggestion which will now only help you but also will help
reduce the smoke in your home when your daughter in law or her dad visit
(though not smoking in the house would be better).  Get several hepa
filter air cleaners.  We use Envirocaire here with great results.  Then
you can point out that you have been cleaning the air.
 
As far as I know the only tests for ferret allergy aren't yet processed
in ways that reduce the chances of other things tagging along and causing
problems, so aren't really definitive.  Given that I am someone who has
asthma (reducing with my shot series) and who has a history of
anaphylactic reactions I can assure you that my allergist takes our
having ferrets seriously, too.
 
My mom, aunt, and uncle used to blame anything at all rather than blame
their smoking, no matter what anyone said and no matter how sick I got
from it; it's a strong addiction, so even people who don't normally try
to let themselves feel better or get off the hook by blaming others for
what they did themselves may do so in relation to an addiction, even one
that is killing them as it did my mom and is doing in part to my aunt...
 
>We must get serious on this issue.  Please know that most ferrets do not
>die of old age.  The high quality food we feed them now does not cause
>tumors or the many other diseases common to ferrets.
 
Interesting.  I hadn't thought of someone misreading what has been said
to interpret it that way, but you are right that some may do so.  Thanks
for giving all of us this "heads-up".  It is so hard to guard against
poor reading, and often is impossible, but we all do need to try and I
guess try harder.  What folks are wondering about is why there seemed to
be fewer cases of things like insulinoma and adrenal neoplasia (but not
lymphoma -- at least in our area) back in the "Days of Meow Mix and
Raisins" -- a word play on what was commonly used then to get across that
it was a long time ago and nothing more.  Were there really fewer cases?
Were the mean and mode longevity numbers actually any different?  Were
vets bad at spotting the symptoms then?  (but with adrenal neoplasia
you'd think that the non-vets would at least recall those who lost fur,
and with insulinoma you'd think they would recall seizures -- I know we
recall one with seizures back in the later part of the "early" years when
ferrets began to become popular in the U.S. -- about 15 years ago -- and
that some specialist vets then know about insulinoma (her later vets) but
the first specialist vets who saw her did not.) You get the drift.  I
think that it began partly because in the days when there were foods that
may have ben higher in starch content there may have been fewer cases of
insulinoma, so that may indicate a flaw in one hypothesis if true, or may
not if the temperature of cooking was low enough to make the starches not
be easy to break down or if their glycemic index was such that they were
less likely to have sugar spike risks.  It's a topic worth discussion,
but folks should be careful to not read things into it, the same as for
any topic, and to know that there are loads of unknowns.  Thanks for the
heads-up on how folks may read things into this discussion that we hadn't
thought of, Dayna.
[Posted in FML issue 3960]