On behalf of my niece and her ferret, Jynx, a BIG thank you to all of you
who took time out of your busy schedule to offer advice.  I forwarded
Tiffany all the emails I received, and she was able to locate a wonderful
vet in the Tallahassee area, so I Princess (my ferret) and I loaded up
last Friday night and headed to south GA.  Princess is never very excited
to see her cousin, as Princess doesn't believe in sharing, but she was
very well behaved this time.  I was astonished to see how much weight and
fur the poor baby had lost in just 2 weeks!  Luckily I don't think that
Jynx knows that anything is wrong, at least she doesn't act like it.  We
don't know how much weight she has lost, as the 1st vet (who said there
was nothing wrong- Ugh!!) never bothered to weigh her, but she is down to
1 lb.  I think she has lost about 1 lb.  She is tiny, but...
 
So EARLY Saturday we all headed down to Tallahassee.  We had to get there
very early b/c the clinic was booked up, but they were gracious enough to
fit us in.  We had to wait awhile, but that was ok- we saw lots of dogs,
a bunny, and even a chicken!
 
This vet was very knowledgeable.  He said that Jynx definitely had
Adrenal gland disease.  He feels that b/c she's so young that it is
probably only in her left gland.  We have her set up for surgery in
February.  I took Princess in to get a 2nd opinion.  I found out she has
insulinoma in July and she has been taking .3 cc of Pred twice daily.  My
vet in GA said that she only prescribes meds and never operates to remove
the cancer.  I think this maybe due to not having many ferts in the area,
so she may not feel comfortable performing the surgeries???  But I've
read articles that suggest removing the tumors is much better and
improves their life (at her age and younger).  I discussed my concerns
with the vet - don't want to have surgery if it prolongs her life but
makes her miserable and he understood.  He recommended surgery and feels
that it would definitely improve her state.  So I have set Princess up as
well.  I think she's excited that she won't have to take that stinky med
anymore (or at least for awhile).  He also mentioned that her spleen
looked a little large even for a ferret, which scared the #&*(% out of
me, but I did some reading on that today and am not quite as scared
anymore.  I'm still keeping my fingers crossed.
 
Again thanks for sharing the informative web sites, your experiences, and
recommending a wonderful vet.  We were much more prepared with questions
and now know that this is definitely something that we can get through.
 
Sandee- thank you so much for looking after my babies and all the other
babies at the Bridge.
 
Tara E and Princess Peapie
[Posted in FML issue 4406]