Life's been exceedingly busy and the vets have also been very, very busy
(Some types of grant due dates arriving for some places that fund Steve's
field and since that place also does some things biological..., finals
for students, talks to give, papers to finish, etc. -- all on top of care
to provide for their own clients' ferrets.).  Knowing how fine vet, Jerry
Murray, is at things endocrinological I had asked him about someone's
problem maybe a week back.  The problem is that i can't recall if the
person with this ferret is in the FML, the FHL, or both.  So, whomever
you are, here is the info you needed forwarded through me from him.
 
Oh, and I seem to recall that although ultrasound is so-so for adrenal
growths it is useful for finding enlarged prostates.
 
 
HI Sukie,
 
There are 2 options: surgical and medical.
 
Surgery-go in and take out the adrenal gland(s).  If there are prostatic
cysts then they can be drained and omentalization can be performed.
 
Medical-Lupron depot at high doses (200-500 mcg/month) to stop the
overproduction of hormones.  Melatonin can also be used with the Lupron.
Plus Propecia/Proscar at 1 mg once a day for the first 30 days then reduce
to 0.1mg/kg once a day after that.  This will help decrease the size of
the prostate and prostatic cysts.  Casodex can also be used at a dose of
5mg/kg once a day to help shrink the prostate.  The other drug that can
be used to help shrink the prostate is flutamide at 10 mg/kg 2-3 times a
day.  In my opinion, Propecia works the best of these 3 medicines.  If
the ferret is stable enough then masking it down with SEVO or Iso and
draining the prostatic cyst(s) helps.  Plus you can culture the fluid.
These cysts are commonly infected, so Baytril is often needed.
 
Enlarged prostates are serious, and require aggressive treatment, but they
usually respond to treatment.  Prostatic cysts are harder to control and
can be fatal.
 
Hope that helps,
Jerry Murray, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 3785]