Thanks to those who wrote me, and also to everyone else who has shared similar stories over the years, it really helps to have some idea what to expect. Cully's surgery to remove his left adrenal went very well. The adrenal was 4 times normal size; I repeat again that the only clues to his having an adrenal problem at all were behavioral, since he had no hair loss, so watch those older ferrets' behavior patterns! The mysterious lumps in his abdomen had disappeared since the ultrasound three weeks ago, but the vet biopsied a couple of lymph nodes just to be safe. They also biopsied his pancreas, since they do that as a matter of course whenever doing surgery on older ferrets. He's still at the vet now, because they keep them in-house for dispensing painkillers, and should be coming home today or tommorrow. Yay!!!! Just thought I'd share the outcome as a success story of adrenal surgery on an older ferret-- Cully's somewhere around 8, but since he's overall very healthy, he was an excellent surgical candidate despite his age. :-) Amelia, who has always steadfastly maintained that She Does Not Like That Cully, has been sleeping in his favorite spots and I'm pretty sure misses him. Ferrets are funny creatures... Regina "I'm grazing with the dinosaurs and the dear old horses..." -- Nick Cave Regina Harrison [log in to unmask] http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/1083 [Posted in FML issue 2772]