From: Lynn McIntosh [faiml@uswest.net] Sent: Wednesday, September 22, 1999 7:08 PM To: FAIMLanon; FAIML Subject: FAIML #336; Sept. 22, 1999 Ferret Adrenal/Insulinoma Mailing List (FAIML) #336; Sept. 22, 1999 1. Reasons for hair loss? 2. Questions 3. old problem 4. Successful Surgery 5. megaesophagus 6. weeza-Lysodren 7. red skin The FERRET ADRENAL/INSULINOMA MAILING LIST (FAIML) is a group that's come together to share support and information about adrenal and insulinoma diseases. FAIML comes out in digest format three to six times per week, depending on the number of posts sent, and their urgency. FAIML information is the opinion, only, of subscribers, mostly ferret caretakers. It is not medical advice, comes with no guarantee of accuracy, and is not meant to replace the examination and medical oversight of a qualified veterinarian. If your ferret is sick or exhibiting signs of illness take your fur kid to the most ferret-experienced vet you can find! A ferret-experienced vet is one of the most important services you can provide to your ferret. TO POST: Write POST at the end of your subject heading (the more specific you can be in your subject heading, the better) and send to . URGENT POSTS: If you feel the message is urgent please mark it POST URGENT and I'll send it out to subscribers as soon as I can, then include the message in the next list. CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS: Please write POST ANONYMOUS after your subject heading if you don't want your address or last name published. SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE: Just use the one address for posts, subscription questions, requests, cancellations, comments, etc. The list is run by hand so just send me an e-mail. ADRENAL/INSULINOMA WEBSITE: FAIML ARCHIVES/PHOTOS: Past FAIMLs are being archived, with a search feature, on Michael Janke's adrenal/insulinoma web site: . Michael is also kindly posting pictures of FAIML subscribers and the ferrets at this site in the FAIML Album. Check out his site for more info. PAM GREENE's FERRET FAQs: I suggest people read (and reread) Pamela Greene's Disease FAQ's on Insulin and Adrenal diseases, as they offer a good background. I forward them to all new subscribers, and will gladly send them upon request. I also send the "Disease Package", a file that tells how to get all six of Pamela Greene's FAQs on ferret diseases. Pam also has excellent FAQ's about general ferret care as well, and a link to these may be found on the FERRET CENTRAL web site: . THE FERRET MAILING LIST (FML): The FML has 3,000+ ferret-loving subscribers and the topic is simply ferrets, ferrets, and more ferrets. Moderated by Mr. Bill Gruber, it's a good source of ferret entertainment and information. Visit FERRET CENTRAL on the web (see paragraph above) for more info on the FML. To subscribe to the FML, send email to its moderator, Bill Gruber, at and ask to be added. You can also try subscribing automatically by sending email to with the command SUBSCRIBE FERRET in the body of the email. 1. Subject: Reasons for hair loss? From: "Butts, Jennifer" Date sent: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 08:20:45 -0400 Hi, my name is Jenna and I have a 5 year old girl who was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma. When they were doing her blood work she had a blood glucose level around 70 so they said she might have insulinoma, but they just told me to feed her nutrical for the time being and watch her. Insulinoma was not of the greatest concern if she didn't show any symptoms of it and because the sqaumous cell was much more serious. Well, she had surgery done last Monday to remove the squamous cell carcinoma (thank goodness it seemed to be very localized); she seemed to be doing well but had a bit of a setback and had to undergo surgery again last Thursday. Well since then I haven't really thought much of the insulinoma (especially since her glucose levels have been above 100 on the past couple of blood test), however I finally got to bring her home Monday and I have noticed she has lost quite a bit of hair loss on her tail. I was wondering if the stress or maybe the insulinoma might cause this hair loss. I am REALLY hoping it is not adrenal because I don't think I can handle 3 cancers all at once! And if it is adrenal, is there anything we can do to check for it, or do I just have to wait till she loses a ton of hair? Thanks! Jenna and Daphne a.k.a. Bald Wonder (since they shaved her head for the surgery) :) 2. Subject: Questions From: "Andy and Amy Wilson" Date sent: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 15:09:01 -0700 I'm looking for some advice from some of the experienced ferret owners out there. I have a 7yr/4mo old ferret. She has been on prelone syrup to control suspected Insulinoma for the past year. She has never had any of the serious symptoms like seizures, drooling, or pawing at the mouth. But she has had an obvious slow down and does seem to have some vacant stares of a couple seconds. This could be age though. Now she is starting to exhibit signs of adrenal disease as well. Thinning hair on the lower back and paws. Her tail has been almost bald for about 2 years. No swollen vulva though. The dilemna is this. Should I be considering surgery for either or both of these diseases at this age? When insulinoma was diagnosed 1 year ago I opted to try to control it with medication and didn't honestly expect her to make it this long. She is still in relatively good health and now I seem to face the same decision again. I'm leaning towards not doing surgery because of her age. It's all very confusing because I can never seem to get a straight answer on expected life spans for ferrets. What would you do? Any good medications or options to control these diseases? Thanks for any advice in advance. Andy 3. Subject: old problem From: KIMBERLY WILLIAMS Date sent: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 18:41:28 -0700 Since i have found this list, I am excited to bounce this story off of some people who have experience with ferrets. I had a ferret named Kayla. Private breeder (actually this girl only breeded one litter, then fixed her female) Kayla was fixed and descented at 6 months (by the way, this was about 7 years ago) When the vet went to fix her, one ovary burst. she cleaned it up and thought she got all of it out and told me to call if problems. At 2-2 1/2 years old, Kayla started losing hair on her tail. No other clinical symptoms. It was very gradual, I barely noticed. Then one day, it all fell out and started up her back. I took her into 3 vets that did skin scrapings etc, they knew nothing. (it was hard to find a knowledgable vet in Ft Knox Kentucky at the time) Finally, my employer called his vet friend, who referred my to an angel, a Dr. Sam B. Vaughn, of Stonefield veterinary associates in Louisville KY. We went in and he said she probably has an adrenal tumor and with the amount of hair loss, it probably was too late. but we went ahead with the surgery. He cut her open and to our amazement, everything was ok heartwise, and adrenal wise. He cut further down and found a tumor that was unidentifiable. they sent it to 3 different pathology labs, before getting this report from: Indiana Veterinary diagnostic Lab, INC, 7202 E 87th, Ste 114, Indianapolis, IN 46256 (317) 579-6353 or (800)-955-6353 Diagnosis: Dysgerminoma; ovary, ferret Interpretive comments: the mass is well encapsulated and excision appears complete. the mass consists of nest of large polyhedral to round cells in tufts and cords separated into compartment by a fibrous connective tissue stroma. Mitotic figures are scattered throughout the section. the histiogenesis of these neoplasms is uncertain. it is not known if the neoplasm is an actual seminoma arise from the male germ cells in a bisexual ovary or if it is composed of ovarian germ cells with seminoma like growth patterns. These neoplasms rarely metastasize in other species. The prognosis is good. Joseph J. Leeth, DVM Jeffery A Engelhardt, DVM, PhD Diplomate ACVP Date reported Sept 15, 1994 Kayla recovered from the surgery well, gained weight (this had always been a problem) and coat became fuller. No other health problems arose until she hit about 6 years old. Then, she stopped eating, belly became enlarged etc. No hair loss, but the coat looked dull. We did operate and found another tumor, this time, from her spleen. We removed the tumor, but basically she never recovered. The pathology was basically malignant growth (i don't have a copy of that path report, I am trying to get it) I had her one month before I finally put her down. She couldn't even make it to the bathroom, It was heartbreaking. I miss her so. I know this is weird case scenario. Has anyone else even heard about "bisexual ovaries?" and was that even the case here? I mean, the path report sounds alittle vague to me, but I'm not a doctor.(yet :)) I would love to talk to anyone about this. I have been totally in the dark since this has happened. Sometimes when I would take her to a vet and I would tell the story, they wouldn't believe it. I would have to bring in a copy of the path report just so I could prove I wasn't lying. I guess I just feel very alone in all this because so many vets haven't been able to even give a response to this. This is why I am very excited to be a part of this group. Maybe I can have some answers as to what actually was the problem. I have extensive records on Kayla for this very reason. Your time and imput is most appreciated, thank you Kimberly Williams 4. Subject: Successful Surgery From: "Dale Nupp" Date sent: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 08:51:40 -0400 Hello All: Well I went through my first adrenal surgery on Monday and Chloe (the most perfect DEW in the whole wide world) came home on Tuesday. Although isolated and caged, you would hardly know she had surgery with her high energy level. Everything is going in and coming out fine so I guess I should count myself lucky. The vet removed the left adrenal. He said it was three times normal size and off color. The biopsy will not come back for another few days but he thinks the tumor is not cancerous. The vet said all of her other insides looked fine so I guess I can relax until my next fuzzy goes in for surgery. Thanks for everyone's kind thoughts. Dale 5. Subject: megaesophagus From: "Michael F. Janke" Date sent: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 21:30:23 -0400 > 3. Subject: Brina, Krystal, Ulysses > From: "Troy Lynn Eckart" body > can only take so much. I had his weight up until last Thursday and > now he is getting so little food in him that he is steadily loosing. > Ulysses has Megasophagus and the prognosis is poor. If anyone has > any ideas, please share them with us as I really want poor Ulysses > to pull through this. He's had such a time of it. Have you seen Carla Alvarez's article on megaesophagus? There may not be anything in it you don't already know, but it might be worth a look see. I have it on my adrenal/insulinoma site. Look in the menu on the left in the home page. For the ferrets, Mike * Michael F. Janke, mjanke@miamiferret.org * Secretary, South Florida Ferret Club & Rescue * A 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation * * Shelter web site: http://www.miamiferret.org * Adrenal/Insulinoma web site: http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc 6. Subject: weeza-Lysodren From: Richard and Katharine Date sent: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 18:38:04 -0400 Lily is on Lysodren. It comes in a little capsule (ferret-sized). I cut the capsule and dump the powder into a little duck soup. She never knows what she's getting. Her first prescription had capsules that could just be pulled apart and dumped. The new ones, I have to cut. Katharine 7. Subject: red skin From: Moxie Date sent: Tue, 21 Sep 1999 08:48:02 -0400 Hi, My late Slinky who was adrenal ferret didn't get red skin, but he did get these dry red patches that would vanish on their own after a few days. Dr. Williams confirmed that this is seen in adrenal ferrets. Regards, Moxie and Chance --------------------- End of FAIML #336 ----------------------