Hi all,
 
I am sending this to both FML and FAIML in hopes of getting some guidance.
My 5 year old MF spayed female had an ultrasound today.  She had the
classic hair loss on the base of the tail so the vet and I assumed adrenal.
The results of the ultrasound show a 4 cm growth on the right adrenal and a
6 cm growth in the pancreas.  Of course there is no way of knowing at this
point what the growth is in the pancreas.  She hasn't shown any signs of
low glucose.  Actually she hasn't had any symptoms other than the hair
loss.  She has been eating, drinking etc as per usual.  My vet recommended
surgery, but here is the catch, he hasn't done a right adrenal before.  He
is an experienced vet but doesn't see that many ferrets in his practice.
However, he is knowlegable in regard to general care of the ferret and he
has been more than receptive to any material I bring him on medical care,
either from the mailing lists or magazines I get.  I basically trust his
abilities and there aren't any other vets that I know of in Lexington Ky
that would know more than he does.  I know there are others out there who
have had fuzzies with this same findings.  What did you do?  What was the
outcome?  As mentioned before, Jill is otherwise healthy with no symptoms
so I guess she is in the best shape she could be for surgery.  Any words
of wisdom and hope would be appreciated.  She is scheduled for surgery to
remove the adrenal gland and also the growth in the pancreas.  I only pray
that that one is a cyst or something.
 
I also have a 3 year old female who started exhibiting "speedbumping",
lethargy and was hard to awaken last Friday night, a visit to the vet Sat
morn revealed no infection but blood glucose was 64.  The vet put her gave
a shot of cortizone (I think) to stimulate her appetite as she wasn't
eating and prescribed Pred 1.25 mg starting Sunday, once a day.  I provided
also a mix of water with Timmy's in her cage.  Today her glucose was 92.
The vet said to give her the pred for 5 more days, then every other day for
5 then we will see what happens when she is off the pred.  Sound like a
good plan?  Since Sunday she has been acting and eating like her normal
lively self.
 
On a more positive note, another fuzzie, 5 years old, left adrenal removed
in 7/98, had recurrance of significant hair loss last fall.  She is a poor
surgical risk because of other things.  Gave her the 4 month shot of Lupron
in 10/99 with no visible response, 2nd shot in 2/00 and she almost
immediately started getting her hair back.  She is back to normal on her
hair and her energy level is much better.
 
Sorry so long, I am really really worried about my Jillian, say a prayer
for her and if any one has any advice or words of encouragement please
e-mail me.
 
The fellow ferret fans on these lists are great.  Thanks in advance.
 
Ann and her terrific 5 (Cinnamon, Jillian, Sabrina, Wriggley and Zoey)
[Posted in FML issue 3061]