Tequila had one adrenal gland removed in December 1994.  I got her in August
of 1995.  Now she is entirely bald and I feel so bad.  She still eats well
and plays, but I notice that she also sleeps a lot more and the play
sessions are much shorter than they used to be.
 
My vet, whom I like and trust, has seen her for several years now.  So he
sees the hair loss as totally drastic, while I see her daily and am not as
shocked by it.  He offered to remove the second adrenal gland (partial) for
about $350.  I opted not to have the surgery, but to put her on lysodren.
I'm almost sure that everything I've seen & read indicates that removal of
the second adrenal gland gives them only about 3 months left of life.  If
that's true, she'd be gone by now if I had had the surgery.  I'm probably
wrong about this, but it seems to stick in my head.  It's like I see it as a
death sentence.
 
On top of that, my SO is totally against purposefully inflicting pain and/or
stress on the critters.  He doesn't want the vets or us poking and proding
on our critters when they are obviously not suffering (aside from the
obvious, vaccinations, exams, etc.).  I completely understand what he's
saying, but as a nursing student myself, I also look at it from a different
perspective.  What about diabetes in humans?  Are we just supposed to ignore
the fact that there is a (treatable) disease occuring within the body
because the insulin shots might cause a bit of momentary pain?  But if
you're not convinced that the treatment will help...in fact, might hinder.
 
$350 is a lot of money.  Not that Tequila is not worth it, if I knew it
would help her and prolong her life I'd do it in a snap.  Tequila is 5 1/2
now.  From all indications she has had a good life.  At this time my SO and
I have decided to let her be.  If we become enlighted that we need to treat
this matter differently, we will.  In the meantime we are keeping a keen eye
for any changes in her.  If anyone has some USEFUL imput, I'd really
appreciate it.
 
I'm a bit worried because we leave for vacation Saturday for 2 1/2 weeks.
The girl who is housesitting for us has no experience with ferrets, but
she's good and I really trust her.  She's looking forward to taking care of
the ferrets, and I didn't want to remove them from their home for that
period of time.  My vet knows that we'll be gone and will treat as he sees
fit, if something happens.  I have a cat that has underlying conditions too.
Good thing my "kids" bring so much joy into my life!
 
Holly (the zookeeper)
[Posted in FML issue 1633]