The only blood test that can definitely confirm adrenal gland disease in ferrets is the TN Panel (Tennessee Panel), and sometimes an ultrasound can spot it but those can have artifacts at times. Prednisone and Prednisolone are not used to treat adrenal disease in ferrets. What are used are surgery, or Lupron Depot and melatonin, and in some parts of the world (and hopefully here within a couple of years given the usual timing for USDA of a well studied med) what is used is deslorelin depot/Suprelorin Depot. Adrenal disease in ferrets is hormonal rather than being Cushings (though a rare minority appear to have a steroidal component and these ferrets also appear to be more vulnerable to developing diabetes, but in that situation the diabetes seems to be very responsive to Lupron Depot teatment along with the adrenals). When Prednisolone is used (typically in conjunction with Percorten or Fludrocort/Florinef and sometimes some added salt in the diet till everything is stabilized) is when surgery or atrophy of a combination cause a ferret to go Addisonian. (Look up Addisons, Addisonian, the med names, etc.) The Preds are used for insulinoma, though, and for some other things. Here are some highly reputable write-ups for you to read and more information is in both the FML and FHL Archives. You can find the address of the FML Archives in the header of every day's FML. The FHL Archives' new address is in my signature. http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/adrenal.htm http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/basics.htm http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/melatonin.htm http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/24hr_lupron.htm (why to use the depot form of Lupron instead of 24 hour Lupron) http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/addisons.htm Shoot! The cable company is gradually replacing aging underground cable locally and I just lost my connection yet again; this will be going on for while, I'm afraid, but will help in the long run. I may not have time to come back and give you more direct links before we regain our connection, so plan on using the very friendly search engines of the FML and FHL. Be sure to look up the meds in http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ Use the box that refers to the post containing the word(s) and to skip extraneous stuff use the medication names for your searches. For most targeted and accurate info skip the subject contains box but in addition to the content box use the from box. In that put AFERRETVET Be sure to also read up Propecia / Proscar for males, and on Epogen and some other meds for the complications of untreated adrenals. In the FML Archives you will find that I have carried over an excellent post from Dr. Bruce Williams on what occurs with untreated adrenals. -- Sukie (not a vet) Ferret Health List co-moderator http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth FHL Archives fan http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ replacing http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org International Ferret Congress advisor http://www.ferretcongress.org [Posted in FML issue 5177]