Hello All:
 
Three weeks ago I posted that we were beginning experimental adrenal
treatments using a relatively new (in ferrets anyway) drug named Anipryl.
I've been making weekly posts on what we've seen so far.
 
Quick background
----------------
Newone is an 8 year old neutered female who has had inoperable adrenal
tumors since she was 6.  Most of her hair is gone, but the use of colloidal
silver seems to have stabilized her disease.
 
Puck is a 6 year old albino neutered male, with intact scent glands.  He was
diagnosed with adrenal in 1995 and had the right adrenal removed (the easy
one).  This past Christmas he suffered a nasty bite to the neck which got
severely infected, had to be operated on, and which seemed to retrigger his
adrenal.  Hair regrowth in the wounded area was very slow, and his hair
began thinning out along portions of his spine and tail in classic adrenal
fashion.
 
In response to these problems, our vet suggested treatment with Anipryl,
which she has been using successfully in dogs.  Dosage is .5mg per day per
weasel, with the pill hidden in a raisin.  We began treatment on 2/20/98.
 
Results So Far
--------------
Our vet believed we would not see any results until about 1 month of
treatment.
 
We continue to see somewhat higher water consumption on the part of the
ferrets being treated.  We're uncertain whether this is a reaction to the
taste of the drug (which has a slighlty bitter, mealy aftertaste), a side
effect, or induced kidney problems (certainly possible).  As a test we DID
have blood work done on Puck on 3/4/98 and there were absolutely no
indications of any kidney problems, so for the moment we're assuming it's
either a relatively benign side effect or just a result of the taste.
 
Puck's hair continues to come in rapidly, and he's begun filling out bits
and pieces along his spine and the tip of his tail that had still been
adrenal-bald.  The hair on his neck is nearly filled in to 'normal' length,
while the hair on his throat where he was shaved for his blood test is
filing in very nicely.  There is stubble at the tip of his tail
(historically the hair first to go and the last to come back).
 
Puck continues to be alert, bright, and playful.  He beat up one of the
other males two nights ago.
 
Newone remains much the same as she was, bouncy and alert.  Her energy
levels are definitely higher than they have been, and she seems somewhat
steadier in her footing than before.  She IS showing VERY SLIGHT hair growth
along her flanks and tail; nothing along the lines of Puck's, but anything
is miraculous in her state.  Her skin remains smooth and pink and healthy,
with none of the dry scaly texture associated with adrenal.
 
We'll be taking the ferrets in again sometime in the next couple of weeks
to be weighed and examined by our vet again, just so we can track their
progress.
 
Summary
-------
Puck:    Continued aggressive hair growth, alert and happy
Newone:  Very slight hair growth in areas, healthier skin, alert and happy
 
Note
----
As might be expected we've received a number of requests from folks who have
ferrets with adrenal and who are looking hopefully at the results we've had
to date.  I'd like to emphasize that this is still VERY EXPERIMENTAL.  We
did this ONLY because we didn't have any other real choices with these two
ferrets.  Anipryl is still outrageously expensive (roughly 70 cents per
dose) and we have yet to show that it is a replacement for surgery.  I urge
anybody who has an adrenal ferret to GET THE SURGERY DONE for now.  Don't
try this unless you have no other options and (of course) your vet wants to
try it.
 
So far, so good....
 
Steve, from the High Mountains of Colorado
"Don't Trust Anyone Under 14,000 Feet"
http://www.concentric.net/~swoodcoc/ferrets.html
[Posted in FML issue 2247]