>I read Dr. Williams post today. it does not answer my questions, one of >which was whether the information in John Hines article was incorrect. I think that if you use the search engine for the Ferret Helath List Archives you'll find that some aspects which normally apply to other species have been generally discounted in ferrets, but don't hold me to remembering clearly where those posts were or their detials right now. Right now I have had very little sleep, with one ferret post-op and having a progressive GI problem that even has his stomach adhered to his liver now and which may be partly a disease process and partly because he has multiple deformities, one with a serious heart condition (Complete A/V Heart Node Block, a fatal condition which she has survived for over 2 months now with careful care) that has gotten more complicated (ventricular bigemini), and tons of work for home, family, the Ferret Health List and elsewhere. I've been burning the candle at both ends too much so have to keep this short and count on you to follow your search further and report upon it for all of us. Okay? I think that you should post the specific questions on the FHL, too, and use a catchy subject header to encourage replies from such experts, as well as finding their names on their past posts, clicking ont them, and writing to them privately, or finding their adddies elsewhere and asking them privately. Adrenal disease in ferrets differs MARKEDLY in some regards from that of other species. My impression is that the article is a clearly-written, basic standard mammalian adrenal function review paper and a well done one, but that such papers are assumed to be read with the understanding that variations do exist, both among individuals and among species. Meanwhile, at least you have some info to start from on your question about whether it is better to use Lupron rather than surgery in individuals since you now know of deaths which might have been avoided if surgey were used. >information that would be interesting to know about the study would >be how many years did it last, and how long the ferrets have had >symptoms before starting treatment. You'll have to get a copy of the study paper or ask them directly. >my ferret vet is not against surgery, he just prefers to administer >Lupron doses and checks various things to figure out if it is working or >not. if there is a tumour, he will take it out. he checks for tumours >via ultrasound. We"ve had adrenal tumors which showed up in surgery not show up on ultrasound, and once had one appear that wasn't even there due to a quirk of the testing that day which i can't explain because i don't know how those sightings happen. >I've been disappointed with surgery because of a recurrence adrenal in >my first ferret, and had yet to read any information that will convince >me that surgery is a better alternative when no tumour growths are >observed. In 20 years we have had some bilaterals in our family. Two were true ones: one with both at once, and one with one after the other. Another was a secondary location for lymphoma so that wasn't the same since the tumors arose when many organs were affected with lymphoma. If I recall the numbers right the general rate for bilateral adrenal growths is thought to be something in the 15% to 20% (That is working from recalled multiple vet reports in the FHL so you can look them up). Some vets, like Dr. Jerry Murray are working on possible ways to reduce the rate of second adrenal growths such as using Lupron secondary to surgery, using melatonin secondary to surgery, or both. Using true darkness for around 14 hours a day is also among the things being suggested by him to try (and he isn't alone among vets in suggesting any of these). >thanx for the input. Hope this helps. Sorry thatmy knowledgte and the time I can give to you is so limited. [Posted in FML issue 3897]