>...I was wondering, The doctor who called me to tell me about Marley said >that if I didn't get the surgery, then it can and will spread throughout >his entire body, affecting all his organs. > >I had received an email from a man named Mike, and he said that what I >described about Marley having, it didn't sound like adrenal cancer. That >adrenal cancer stays in one place and just gets bigger... Most adrenal growths tend to be localized (though some can spread simply from proximity to other structures rather than by metatastis (I never can spell that word right). There are some EXCELLENT vet-written posts, including ones by the ferret-pathology specialist, Bruce Williams, which go into this and explain the differences clearly. You can find them by using the search features in http://listserv.cuny.edu/archives/ferret-search.html , http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list Look for key words like "benign", "definition", etc. or find the correct word for the one I can't spell :-), and in the CUNY files "Williams", "cross-post", with the posts being send by my name. These will help MANY people to read. Maybe I should find them and do a "golden oldie" sometime when Bill thinks it makes sense. I think that the CUNY one might be the fastest for this but am not sure; either should work. Are there some types of growths that can crop up in adrenal glands that are malignant? Yes, but they are less common than the ones that are benign. There are also some forms which can spread but tend to not do so, so for those surgery is curative. Lymphosarcoma is among the ones that spread readily to distant sites and is likely what your vet is afraid of. Basically, only pathology by a knowledgeable pathologist will give a decent prognosis, and for most ferrets surgery is the best option, not only because of what i wrote above, but also because some of the possible complications that can arise secondary to ANY adrenal growths be very dangerous. Most adrenal growths are benign. When non-vet people say "cancer" in relation to ferret adrenal growths, pancreatic growths, or skin growths they usually are wrong in terminology... Finding vets: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list/files/FerretVets.html , http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list/files/FML-shelter-list.html http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc , and others [Posted in FML issue 3560]