From: Lynn McIntosh [faiml@uswest.net] Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2000 1:35 AM To: FAIMLanon; FAIML Cc: faiml@uswest.net Subject: FAIML #459; Sept. 12, 2000 Ferret Adrenal/Insulinoma Mailing List (FAIML) #459; Sept. 12, 2000 There are six messages in today's list: Differences Between Male and Female Ferrets in recovery from Adrenal Sugery Adrenal question? Ferris Natalie Adrenal symptoms URI FERRET ADRENAL/INSULINOMA MAILING LIST (FAIML) is a list featuring support and information about adrenal and insulinoma diseases. It comes out in digest format three to six times per week, depending on the urgency and number of posts. It is the opinion, only, of subscribers, and is not intended as 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 exhibiting signs of illness please take him or her to the most ferret-experienced vet you can. 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You can also try subscribing automatically by sending email to with the command SUBSCRIBE FERRET in the body of the email. Date: Sat, 2 Sep 2000 18:48:27 -0700 From: "Cary Atlas" Differences Between Male and Female Ferrets in recovery from Adrenal Sugery My family and I have two ferrets, one male and one female. The male seems to be showing signs of adrenal disease. We have taken him to the vet and had blood drawn to deterimine if in fact he has adrenal disease. We also have been searching the internet to educate ourselves. Our vet told us that his impression is that male ferrets tend to do worse than female ferrets post adrenal surgery. Does anyone know of any information on this subject? We want to give him the surgery if it will help the adreanl disease but not at the cost of kidney or prostate trouble. Or worse, we do not want him to die during or immediately after surgery. Date: Sun, 3 Sep 2000 23:14:18 EDT From: ANITABEERS@aol.com Adrenal question? Hi Folks! I haven't posted in quite a while, but I've definitely been reading the posts! For Rikkie and Natalie - we had a female ferret Brandy who developed a swollen vulva at a little over a year old. Like Natalie, Brandy's coat was beautiful, and she was continually misdiagnosed with a uterine infection, especially since she was so young. However, it turned out that she did have an adrenal tumor, and they didn't find it until 2 years later when she finally went in for exploratory surgery! In other words - get Natalie checked for that darn adrenal tumor!! There are blood tests your vet can do, or you can also get exploratory surgery done on her. It might also be possible that she isn't spayed, but from what I understand, she wouldn't have lived this long due to developing aplastic anemia (I think that's the condition unspayed females can develop if not bred?) Now for a question of my own. Our male fert Tasslehoff had his second adrenalectomy in March 2000, which was very successful. However, in May 2000, he started picking on one of our females - Sprite. Some of you know the drill - he starts by licking her ears and it progresses to him latching on until she sometimes cries. We've been putting bitter apple on Sprite which works pretty well, but could this be the dreaded adrenal returned this soon?! We were thinking it was just stress, but his behavior seems to be escalating. It's also confusing, because he doesn't pick on our other female (Jasla) at all, and he never picked on either female fert when he was adrenal the 2 times before. It also only happens when they're all in their cage. When they're in our room playing or sleeping - no problems. Tasslehoff is also doing the urine drinking thing on occasion, which I can't remember the significance of. If anyone has any thoughts, I'd really appreciate them! Thanks! Anita Date: Tue, 5 Sep 2000 15:03:35 -0500 From: teckart@oznet.ksu.edu Ferris I'm not sure what to do with Ferris. It's been 2, almost 3 weeks since his Lupron Depot injection and he's getting worse instead of better. He also has a raised lump on the back of his neck which came up 2 days ago (Larry believes it is from the Lupron Depot injection). Ferris is loosing more hair, has the pinched look to his face and has recurring bladder infections. So where do we go now? I'm thinking about Proscar or surgery for a bi-lateral but I'm not sure when. What is the longest time it has taken for Lupron depot to work? I don't want to overdo anything on Ferris if the Lupron depot is going to kick in but then again I don't want him to suffer through these adrenal symptoms either. Any suggestions? Hugs to all. tle Troy Lynn Eckart Ferret Family Services http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~sprite/ffs.html http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Haven/5481/ Please sign up to support our charity http://www.iGive.com/html/ssi.cfm?cid=46&mid=58395 Date: Sat, 2 Sep 2000 21:55:12 EDT From: Ferrets1st@aol.com Natalie In a message dated 9/2/00 6:23:26 PM Central Daylight Time, faiml@uswest.net writes: << Could it be that she is not spayed? >> Yep! Sounds like it to me. Could also be leftover ovarian tissue from an incomplete spay or could even be an adrenal tumor. Regardless, I'd immediately do a cbc, check creatnin, wbc's and other such things to determine whether she's anemic yet. If she's not and she's in fairly good health I'd do surgery immediately to find out what's causing the problem. If it continues you could lose her. Aplastic anemia is nothing to fool around with. Also, be aware that ferrets that haven't been spayed may also lose hair in the same manner as those with adrenals, also, those with adrenal tumors may not lose hair...you have to look for each and every symptom and realize they could show only one. I've seen ferrets who only "itched" alot, who had tumors that were discovered on ultrasound. MF makes mistakes so be aware that unspayed females with tattoos are not as rare as you may think...nor are males with tattoos who have undescended testicles! We got a guy in last October who we discovered had two huge masses in his abdomen. Upon exporatory we found they were testicles that had enlarged and turned into ugly things that attached to the spine and other organs...so they couldn't be removed. Our only choice was to make him as comfy as possible for whatever time he had left. He showed no signs of pain so there was no reason to put him down. He lived until just a few weeks ago, when we started noticing he seemed to be having some pain so we decided it was his time. Those kinds of trips to the vet are some of the hardest, but they are the kindest thing we can do for those in our care. Good luck with Natalie! Trish Director, Ferrets First Rescue & Shelter Date: Sun, 3 Sep 2000 21:47:40 EDT From: WGHOL@aol.com Adrenal symptoms In a message dated 9/1/00 6:57:24 PM Pacific Daylight Time, faiml@uswest.net writes: << Has anyone else had a female go through exploratory, who had such a tiny tiny vulva to begin with that it was hard to say if it was enlarged? What was the outcome? >> Yes. My girl had a very small vulva which showed no swelling whatsoever. She did display hair loss on the tail. During exploratory, her left adrenal gland showed a tumor and was removed. She went two years before her right gland began to act up as well. Hope this answers your question. all the best! W... Date: Sat, 2 Sep 2000 21:34:16 EDT From: Ferrets1st@aol.com URI Having dealt with hundreds of ferrets over the years I've seen quite a few URI's. However, I have not had much success with Amoxi for URI's. Suggest Clavamox instead. Also would put on Triaminic (Pediatric Nightime Formula) 1/2 cc every 6 hours to help with congestion if that's a problem. As much "soup" as you can get him to eat, and keep hydrated. There is an article on my website on "Dealing with a sick ferret" that you may find helpful too, it's at www.ferretsfirst.com Trish Director, Ferrets First Rescue & Shelter ----------------------- End of FAIML #459 -------------------------