>From: Duane Watts <[log in to unmask]> > >Well folks, we are taking Cocoa and Blaze to Ohio for surgery Friday. >Both are showing classic signs of adrenal. Cocoa is a sweet little >chocolate female and Blaze is a rough and tumble Silver. How old is >too old for surgery? These two are elderly but in good shape otherwise. >I just hope everything goes well. Duane- I'm sure opinions differ on an age- there probably is no one age for every ferret. I think it's probably like people- you would decide on an individual basis, hopefully with guidance from your vet, and take their overall health into consideration. I am by no means an expert, but, just like in humans, there's a risk with every surgery. Our two ferrets, both about 5 yrs old, each had major surgery in December- one for adrenal disease and the other for an enlarged spleen and then it turned out he also had some cancer and insulinoma. The vet had to stop the surgery before he wanted to do (i.e., there were some more masses he wanted to remove) b/c Freddy had lost a lot of blood already and he didn't want to endanger him. They have so little fluids and blood in them, that I'm sure operating on such a tiny animal is hard. That said, both Freddy and Peanut recovered really well and are back to their normal- maybe a little more energetic- selves. They are getting up there in age, but I would never have made any other decision unless the vet told me it would put them in jeopardy to operate. There are people on the list more knowledgeable than I, but my understanding is that if you catch adrenal disease early, the best possible chance of recovery and wellness lies with surgery if your ferret is healthy enough to have surgery. Our Peanut's hair started growing back almost immediately- before the surgery she had lot almost all the hair on her back! And both of them healed and recovered from the surgeries pretty quickly. Good luck to you-- Jaime [Posted in FML issue 4149]