I don't think I had the FML in my box for more than an hour before I
recieved 12 emails on adrenals and osteoporosis.  By today, there when 33
(all, interestingly enough, from females).  I think part of the problem is
the subject is *very* complex and difficult to discuss in a short post, so I
skip lots of stuff any only mention the more obvious things.
 
One letter indicated that my post sounded like there was little you could do
for a ferret with adrenal disease.  I'm sorry if it sounded like that,
because there are actually lots of things that can be done; read Pam
Greene's FAQ on the subject.  My requests for adrenal information keep
trickling in, and I'm about ready to post the results.  Another comment was
I didn't detail *every* thing the adrenal does.  Kind of hard to do here;
when I took (and later taught the lab) comparative anatomy, we spent an
entire week on the adrenals, which included 6 hours of lecture and 8 hours
of lab and microscopic investigations.  Although I desperately try, I just
can't say or include everything in a mailing list format.  If interested,
refer to Hyman's Comparative Anatomy, and go from there.
 
Most of the comments were actually centered about osteoporosis, which I
really didn't discuss much at all.  Osteoporosis is not a disease, it is the
condition of decalcification and increased porosity of bone, which can be
due to many different things, ranging from disease processes, cancer, lack
of sexual hormones, kidney problems, diet, and on and on.  If you say a
ferret has osteoporosis, I know the bone is decalcified and more porous than
it should be, but I don't know *why* the bone is that way.
 
To clarify my remark that I didn't think the jump from the couch would have
broken the leg, even with osteoporosis, is because the disease works by
increasing the pore-space of the bone; that is, spaces inside the bone get
bigger.  Bones that are affected the worst are those that are made from lots
of spongy bone, which already has lots of spaces inside it.  These bones
include the ribs and vertebrae, the *ends* of the long bones and the tiny
bones that make up the wrist and ankle.  The part of the bone that was
mentioned as being broken was in the middle of the part called the
diaphysis, which is made up of compact, dense bone, with fewer and smaller
spaces than spongy bone.  Because small mammals have bone many times
stronger than needed for their size, even when osteoporotic the diaphyseal
portions are still quite strong.  If the osteoporosis was so bad that the
shaft of a longbone would fracture, then the neck of the femur would
fracture, the vertebrae would be collapsing and the ribs splintering with
the little force the jump would generate.  I can't rule it out, but it seems
a little far-fetched considering the biomechanics of bone, and I suspect
either some defect in the bone, or the bone was injured before the jump, and
the jump just demonstrated the injury.
 
I mentioned Razz had lost about a third of her bone mass due to
osteoporosis.  When I weighed the bones, most of the loss was from the ribs,
carpals, tarsals and vertebrae.  The centrum of the vertebrae are so porous
that they will easily crush between the fingers.  The only other time I have
seen a vertebrae in such bad shape was one recovered from a dog suffering
from rubber-jaw syndrome, which is the mother of all osteoporotic diseases.
 
One person asked how x-rays work to see osteoporosis.  Two easy ways; first,
if the "normal" setting results in ghostly bones, it could mean the bones
have less calcium than they should.  A slightly better way is to look at the
spongy portions of bone on the x-ray.  If the long-bone shafts are exposed
properly, but the vertebrae and ribs look more transparent than they should
be, it is a good indication that osteoporosis might be present.  I've
suggested this approach to my personal vet as a fast and cheap screening
method for estimating the severity of adrenal disease, and hope to write a
paper on it once some data is compiled.  I've also read that some vets use
non-xray methods, similar to those used with people, and your vet would be a
good source of info.
 
Remember you can't catch osteoporosis; it's not a disease but a process.
You get osteoporosis as the result of a disease or condition that causes the
bones to lose calcium and become more porous.  Weightlessness causes
osteoporosis, as can diet, exercise, hypo- or hyper-hormone levels, cancer,
etc.  I think many of the people who wrote to me were thinking mostly of
themselves rather than their ferrets, which brings up my final comment, the
most important of all.
 
Vets (and doctors and just about *everybody* including myself) try to
explain things, but sometimes, in the emotionally charged atmosphere of the
time, may not explain everything well or completely, or may not be
understood well.  Many times a person will fixate on a single portion of
what was said, ignoring or forgetting the rest.  (I had a letter from a
person who's ferret died of insuloma.  A necropsy revealed a tiny hairball,
but it was reported to me the ferret died of a hairball.  The cause of death
was clearly something else, but they fixated on the hairball.)
 
*TALK* to your vet, and even if they are in a hurry, say you have some
questions you need answered; if they don't stop and explain, its time to get
a different vet.  If, when they are explaining something to you, you don't
understand, ask them to explain further.  I recommened *all* pet owners to
buy a good veterinary dictionary; "Bailliere's Comprehensive Veterinary
Dictionary," edited by Blood and Studdert is excellent and well worth the
price.  I also recommend you buy first aid manuals for your home and
*consult* them; almost anything recommended for small cats would be
applicable to the ferret.  Lastly, if you have a question, your vet
intimidates you, and you can't find the answer anywhere else, please ask the
people on the FML; someone here will be more than happy to answer the
question, irregardless of its silliness factor.  Don't worry about your
level of knowledge; we all started out dumb (and some of us dumber).  And
don't worry about silly people's silly remarks or pseudo flames; just do
what I do and say "thanks, now pull my finger...."
 
Bob C and 20 MO Ferts in Asbesto Suits
[Posted in FML issue 2169]