Hi Dawn! >He called me at work that day to tell me that my ferret has an adrenal >tumor. It is on the right side, not the left, so its inoperable. Some right adrenals, if severely involved with the vena cava (a big vein on the right side) are inoperable. Did your vet say why your fuzzy's tumor is inoperable? I agree that surgery is the best option as cure for adrenal growths (the only potential "cure" right now), but read on about our Wally's inoperable tumor, which one of our vets says is not uncommon. By the way, our vet's fur kid's right adrenal was inoperable -- they couldn't even touch it, and our vet hired a very advanced surgeon and technology. He was put on Lysodren, with my vets modified protocol, and did very well. When he did die, of insulinoma, a detailed necropsy by a respected ferret-experienced pathologist showed death was due to advanced insulinoma, but that the adrenal growth had shrunken up (and would still have been inoperable) around the vena cava. A slightly enlarged heart, not out of the norm for this age of fuzzy, was found, but no evidence was found of damage from the Lysodren. About Lysodren, it doesn't work for all fuzzies, and seems to work best for fuzzies whose adrenal growths haven't reached the adenocarcinoma stage, but are in the hyperplastic or adenoma stages. Did your vet send tissues in for histology? I hope so. With Wally, his tumor was so large and engaged with the vena cava our experienced vet didn't dare even biopsy it (it oozed blood dangerously at the slightest touch), but did get a needle biopsy which at least identified it as an adrenal tumor -- she'd never seen anything like it and didn't want to assume; I was surer than she, but then I don't have a vet degree and am not responsible for the diagnosis, so I CAN jump to conclusions ;) The tumor was big too, tubular and between golf-and racket-ball sized, poor Wally... Lysodren seems to be working well for our Wally, but we use a slightly different protocol than the standard one which I believe was developed by Dr. Susan Brown. We've never given it more than four days in a row, whereas some vets start with five, seven, even ten days on, then back off the dose. Our vet feels this doesn't give the fuzzy time to clear the toxicity of the drug from it's body and flush away the killed adrenal tissue. Wally's tumor has shrunken (he's quit sleeping in odd positions to accommodate the large presence in his body, and a vet could barely feel it last time she checked), his hair has fully regrown to a normal coat in every aspect, he has a good appetite and is very playful. We still shudder when we give him this chemotherapy drug, but were up against a wall without few options. He gets it two times per week, Monday and Tuesday right now. Initially we had to watch him for signs of toxicity (he was on a higher dose) and feed turkey soup and give prednisone (only gave about three times) if he became weak and/or nauseated. If we saw any signs of weakness or anorexia we stopped Lysodren for the entire week immediately. By the way, I spoke with Dr. Kawasaki the other day, who said he has now done more than 2,000 adrenal surgeries on ferrets! According to his info, the term right adrenalectomy is a bit misleading. He says he never gets every single bit of the right adrenal, and it is the little bit that is left, in the case of bi-adrenalectomies, that enables the fuzzy to go on to live a healthy chemical-free life. He treats with prednisone following a bi-adrenalectomy, then starts cutting back the dose until, I believe it was four to six weeks (he talks fast and is very busy!) the fuzzy is weaned off. Another prominent fuzzy vet has said he only uses prednisone following a bi-adrenalectomy if there are symptoms present. It sounds to me that any "right adrenalectomy" is really a "de-bulking". Michael Janke wrote: >Our shelter's vet removes right adrenals with little problem unless it has >grown into the vena cava. Maybe it's time to look around for another vet? I agree that surgery is the best option as cure for adrenal growths! The only cure available now, in fact. My friend's fuzzy, who is older than Wally, with more advanced and/or serious adrenal disease (he has prostate enlargement, which Dr. Weiss, in his recent paper, has theorized may be more common to fuzzies in the adenocarcinoma stage of adrenal disease) is doing very badly on Lysodren :(, though it's helped the urinary problem. The fuzzy also had borderline low blood sugar prior to Lysodren therapy, so the Lysodren has made that worse, and he must be fed every four or so hours to avoid bad seizures, though he sometimes has them anyway. Hopefully something can be done, as the fur kid is very sweet and seems to really love me, as I love him. One other thing. My two vets don't advise vena cava ligations. The data I've seen (skimpy but from an experienced ferret vet) shows about a 33% mortality rate within 30 days. Our vets don't feel the surgery is conducive to long-term health either. I'm very, very glad for those fuzzies who have had this done and survived but, only my opinion, I would try chemical therapy before vena cava ligation, and only select ligation as a last resort (such as when the vena cava is nicked during surgery and must be ligated; or if the fuzzy has very bad adrenal symptoms such as a swollen prostate which could lead to a fatal urinary tract blockage, and Lysodren can't be used or doesn't work). Of course, especially in adrenal disease, each situation is unique! Hey, for those who read this long tome, thanks! Sorry it was so long (it'll probably bounce back at me then I get to "take the time" to write shorter). Lynn Mc., an adrenal fur-kid mom [Posted in FML issue 2264]