**The advice dispensed by myself in reference to FML postings is not meant to supplant the advice of veterinarians who are in charge of the patient. If the patient is not currently under the care of a veterinarian, the client is recommended to take their ferret to one.** >From: Maria DeCicco <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Adrenal Surgery >I wrote a few weeks ago about my ferret Ginger who was not eating well and >who continue to have soft poops and the lost of hair on her tail. I >returned to the vet and he took a blood test. Everything showed up OK. >The lose of hair seems to be going up the trunk of her body. >From: Stacy Patchel <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Adrenal surgery v/s Medicine? >Scooter, my 2.5 year old ferret, was diagnosed with an adrenal tumor today >from an ultrasound. My vet has never done the surgery. She called several >area vets & none of them do the surgery. ... I thought I would answer these two questions together. A little background on the disease (there is more information on the FAQ). Adrenal disease is caused by a tumor or growth in the adrenal gland. These growths can be malignant tumors, benign tumors, or something called hyperplastic tissue (bigger than normal cells but not quite fitting the definition of cancer). These cells no longer follow the normal negative feedback loop . That is, when levels of hormones or steroids that the adrenal normally secretes gets too high, the adrenal stops secreting them until they are back in the normal range. These tumors just keep pumping out the hormones and steroids. Depending on what hormones and/or steroids get pumped out results in the symptoms the ferret exhibits (aggression, swollen vulva, hair loss, prostate enlargements, etc.) Statistically, 85-90% of the ferrets have adrenal tumor ONLY in the left gland. 75% are female. The last piece of information is that the adrenal gland has a high regeneration capacity. You cut out half of one and it will regrow over a relatively short period of time. Now comes Lysodren. Lysodren is a medication that destroys adrenal tissue. The goal of administering Lysodren is to destroy a percentage of the gland while the rest of the gland regenerates new adrenal tissue. You are trying to reduce the functional mass so less hormones/steroids can be produced (i.e., the factory is smaller for manufacturing). Disadvantages of Lysodren: 1) some ferret become nauseous (vomit, diarrhea, anorexia, etc.), 2) does work in some ferrets, 3) lifelong medication (since the adrenal gland regenerates), 4) lifelong expense can equal or surpass the surgery cost, 5) can cause profound hypoglycemia (not to be used in an insulinoma ferret). Advantage of Lysodren: 1) don t need to do surgery if Lysodren works. Surgery disadvantage: 1) cost, 2) higher technical skill required by veterinarian. Advantage: 1) 85-90% of the time you can CURE ferret lifelong (just be removing the left adrenal gland. In my experience at least one gland will look abnormal on the surgery and that is the one I remove. Based on biopsy reports, I have been wrong two times in about 200 surgeries. One of those two ferrets got better and has remained symptom free so far.) A big problem with the surgery approach is when the ferret has bi-lateral adrenal disease (in both glands). These ferret, after having an adrenal gland removed, may need to be put on Lysodren or have 1/2 of their other adrenal gland removed (but remember it regenerates!). As for the cost of the surgery, it widely varies just like human surgery prices do. A lot has to do with the local economy (overhead is more in the NorthEast versus the SouthEast), veterinary pricing structure and equipment. Ironically, the more ferret work a vet does, the more he/she usually has invested in equipment to do ferret work. For example, my small animal incubator that the ferret recover in costs $1200. A lot of vets who do sporadic ferret work probably won t invest in this because they cannot see a return on their investment. The result is better medicine for the pet but with a corresponding higher cost. The same is true with anesthetics. The recommendation is to use isoflurane gas anesthesia. Some vets still use injectables (cost less but you have less fine control of the depth of anesthesia). That s the long answer for the short questions. >From: John J Windfelder <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: to operate or not? >Rocky, my 7 and 1/2 year old fuzzy, has developed an abdominal tumor, If it is not the spleen, I would operate. If it is the spleen, I would monitor. >From: Michael Cook <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Upper Respiratory Infections >My boyfriend and I have had our ferret Scooter for 2 months now. She is 4 >months old. Since we have had her she has been sneezing. The blood work should help diagnose an upper respiratory infection from an allergy. Also chest x-rays are beneficial. Some upper respiratory infections are viral in nature and antibiotics do not directly help Mike Dutton, DVM, DABVP Weare Animal Hospital Weare, NH, USA [Posted in FML issue 1781]