Sorry to have to lump everything in one message, but my usual network
is down, I'm trying to build a garage this weekend, I have to put my
slides together for a talk in two weeks on diseases of ferrets, rabbits,
and rodents at the N. Am. Vet Conf. in two weeks, and I'm very short of time.
I know Charlie Weis is out of town, so let me see if I can get caught up...
 
        To Jim concerning Nikki's vomiting....
 
        The connection between a ferret vomiting and its being very sick should
only be made when the ferret is vomiting multiple times.  Ferrets will occasion-
ally vomit in times of stress, excitemtn, or when they have eaten too much
too fast.  Mine vomit occasionally, and as long as it is only once, and
they act fine afterward, and have no other signs of disease, I generally
don't pay it too much attention.
 
        But if it is repetititve, or there are any signs of blood, then
the vet should be consulted immediately.
 
        To Randall Nieland concerning Vaseline -
 
        What your ferret did is discover Laxatone or Petromalt, just
without the flavoring.  Vaseline is commonly given to cats and dogs
to help pass foreign objects, hairballs, or when they are constipated.
It won't hurt your ferret; just gets everything moving again.
 
        To Dixon Harris concerning urinary syndromes with adrenal
disease:
 
        No I haven't heard of bladder stones occurring as a result of the
pH changes in the bladder subsequent to adrenal disease.  The syndrome
that I have seen in the AFIP is far different, but just as serious.
 
        We have had several male ferrets with adrenal disease presenting
with an inability to urinate.  they can urinate when their bladder is
squeezed, but not on their own.  The prblem that we have seen in DIRECTLY
due to the excess estrogens secreted by the adrenal gland.  What it
does is causes a change in the lining epithelium of the prostate to
make it more like that of skin.  There is an accumulation of keratin and the
formation of cysts in the prostate gland, which occlude the urethra, making
it so that the animail can't urinate.
        Surgery involves removing both the adrenal gland and any prostatic
cysts that can be found.  This is not an easy surgery, and one that most vets
are ot familiar yet.  I am now discussing this problem at various vet
 conferences
and the need to address it, but it is not widespread in the literature yet.
The process is called "prostatic squamous metaplasia" and is similar to some-
thing which occurs in dogs with estrogen-secreting testicular tumors.
 
        I would suspect that the connection between bladder stones and
adrenal tumors which the other person mentioned is coincidental, and that
ther real problem was squamous metaplasia and cyst formation in the prostate
 gland.
 
Bruce Williams  [log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1061]