From: Lynn McIntosh [faiml@uswest.net] Sent: Friday, November 17, 2000 12:21 AM To: FAIMLanon; FAIML Cc: faiml@uswest.net Subject: FAIML #481; Nov. 17, 2000 Ferret Adrenal/Insulinoma Mailing List (FAIML) #481; Nov. 17, 2000 There are seven messages in today's list: Little One In Recovery Update Jillian MI adrenal ferret, passed away :-( Vitamins for thinning hair? MSU vets/Adrenal disease, urinary troubles blocked male adrenal ferrets On the road again 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. A ferret-experienced vet is one of the most important services you can provide for 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 email. ADRENAL/INSULINOMA WEBSITE and FAIML ARCHIVES/PHOTOS: For more info, check out Michael Janke's adrenal/insulinoma web site: . Past FAIMLs are archived there, with a search feature, and there is a FAIML album featuring pictures of FAIML subscribers and their ferrets. FERRET CENTRAL WEBSITE and PAM GREENE's FERRET FAQs: Ferret Central Website is the grand intersection of ferret websites, at . You can also find the Ferret FAQs there, which include invaluable FAQs on insulinoma and adrenal diseases. I forward these two FAQs 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. 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 great 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. Date sent: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 10:58:07 -0600 From: "Dovie Reynolds" Subject: Little One In Recovery Hello, all! My little Mischief had surgery Monday. We had two large insulinomas and an adrenal about the size of a walnut removed. Naturally, she's not feeling so hot right now. I've never gone through a major pet surgery, other than my cat being spayed -- and she seemed to bounce back just fine. She shivers and whines a lot, and I've already had three panic stricken calls to the vet (for both quite normal phenomena). She had major yellow slimy diarrhea -- panic stricken call #1. Once she started eating, her stool went back to more or less normal. Then she stopped eating -- panic stricken call #2. Now she's eating again, although not as much as I'd like, and she bites at the cage, because she wants to get out and try to work her bandage off. I took the first one off Tuesday night, and she started gushing blood -- panic stricken call #3. I was just wondering if anyone has any tips for a first-time mother's first-time recovery? Anything will help! Thanks bunches in advance, Dovie & Mischief Date sent: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 19:39:11 EST From: AnnH330@aol.com Subject: Update Jillian Just an update too, Jillian had her surgery yesterday, she did ok with it. The vet said he removed a pencil eraser sized tumor. The pancreas was wrapped around it but he wasn't positive that it was growing from it. He said it could be lymphoid. He sent it for a path. He said it's appearance was unlike any he had ever seen. He also said the pancreas didn't look as it should either. What exactly that could mean is unknown. He is hopeful we will know more when the path is received. Until then, I pray. I can't lose another fuzzie so soon after losing my Sabrina. She died 9/27 of adenocarcinoma. She was a terrific silvermitt. Very beautiful. I also lost my 9 yr old Sheltie on 9/9. So you can understand my semi panic. Thanks Lynn, I appreciate your patience. Ann Hehl AnnH330@aol.com Date sent: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 16:12:58 EST From: DAISYLEELA@aol.com Subject: Vitamins for thinning hair? please let me know is there any vitiams that you can tellme to use for the ferrt with thinning hair thanks Date sent: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 19:43:33 -0800 From: "FerretGirl" Subject: MI adrenal ferret, passed away :-( Hi, I just wanted to thank EVERYONE who gave advice and recommendations for my ferret Zippy. On 11/16/00 Zippy was taken to Dr. Lawrenchuk at the Wesland Vet Hospital near Livonia MI. She is wonderful and I will continue to seek treatment at her faciluty for my other ferrets. She successfully removed the right adrenal and 1/2 of the left adrenal. She had also completely unblocked his bladder and inserted a catheter. He awoke from surgery and appeared to be recoverying well, but to my deepest sadness he passed away an hour and a half later due to a ruptured pulminary artery (vein?) He died almost instantly in his sleep. I am heart broken, but at least he is no longer in pain. I have now lost 3 ferrets to adrenal disease. It NEVER gets easier. Thank you all again. You helped us a great deal. FG Date sent: Wed, 15 Nov 2000 10:07:55 -0800 (PST) From: "meesh meesh" Subject: MSU vets/Adrenal disease, urinary troubles Hi, I am not sure which of the posts/people wrote the "urgent" message regarding vets at Ohio state so the following comments may be in response to a different ferret's situation...hopefully, they will be helpful to either or both. Firstly, I did not see Dr. Smeak this morning but I will look for him this afternoon and I left him a short message. My understanding (and, I am *only* a vet *student* at the moment) but my experienc and understanding is that the meds used to treat adrenal disease will NOT change the state of the adrenal tumors, only reduce some of the more superficial clinical signs (hair loss, itchy skin, etc). Urinary problems occcur because the hormones circulating cause an increase in the size of the prostate and the cell types also change forms. There are also medications that can reduce the size of the prostate which will help with urinations. I am not personally familiar with their efficacy but I know they have been used in ferrets. I do not know how serious your situation is with regard to blockage but I do have some personal experience in that my own ferret went from urinating normally to totally blocked in one night. Luckily, that blockage relieved on it's own (albeit at the emerg clinic). It can be a life-threatening situation so that should be weighed against the use of meds currently. One important thing I'd like to mention because this occurred with my own ferret. Spikey had a history of chronic, recurrent urinary tract infections. AFter 2 months on antibiotics, he was off the antibiotics one week and subsequently went septicemic (the infection entered the bloodstream) and died. Necropsy showed a HUGE prostate, cellular changes of the prostate tissue and an absess within the prostate which was "seeding" the urinary infection. IN other words, it didn't matter that we cleared the urine of infection, the abscess in his prostate was the source of the infection. I don't know how common this is but I do not believe it is uncommon - I do have an article written by Susan Brown, DVM, that describes how recurrent urinary tract infections can often be the major presenting sign of a male ferret with adrenal disease as well as a concurrent sign. I would perhaps consider talking to your regular vet to have frequent urinary cultures to make sure the urine is remaining sterile and not recurring (recurrence would be generally within a week) - this would be done with a urinary culture. That, or perhaps extended antibiotic treatment until the surgery consult occurs. Prostatic abscesses are very difficult to treat (it's hard to get the antibiotics INTO the abscess since there is no blood supply within the absess) and I can't comment on appropriate treatment. I tell you this information in the small chance that it might help your situation. I would just hate for someone to go through what I went through is all (his death was not pretty - he seized for hours and went into a coma before passing away in my arms). Good Luck, I'll write if I hear of any particular vet names at MSU and, feel free to write me directly if I can clarify any information or if anyone has any comments to add. ps. If anyone wants a copy of the article by Susan Brown (it was copied from a ferret club newsletter and sent to me a couple of years ago), I would be willing to fax a copy and/or scan one (I think we have a new scanner at school). Just let me know. Michaela Maurice College of Veterinary Medicine Ohio State University Class of 2002 Date sent: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 12:42:04 EST From: OutThink@aol.com Subject: Re: blocked male adrenal ferrets This might just be a coincidence but since I switched my guys from raisins to Craisins none of the adrenal males have become blocked or shown any signs of urinary problems. We lost MR MAgoo earlier this year and he had stopped having urinary problems after we switched to Craisins. I just assumed that for whatever reason Doc's prescribe cranberry juice for women with urinary tract infections it must do something similar for the ferret as well. Roberta (I don't know if this is a bad thing or a good thing as I have no ferret medical experience and only know what I've learned from ya'll on this list.) Date sent: Thu, 16 Nov 2000 06:14:09 -0700 From: "Gary Holowicki" Subject: On the road again Hi Folks; I'm going to try & take a friend up on an invite for Thanksgiving in Odessa, Texas, on the west side of the state. As such, if you're very short on tonic, pls email with new check # if set up for that, or call at 602-957-3112. Sorry for the short notice, but the folks I was going to be with here will have to work instead of being available for dinner, & I haven't seen the people in Tx since they lived out here in Az a few years ago anyway. I've ordered a phone for down there since I'll be there a couple of weeks to make the drive worthwhile in the motor home (yes the ferret kids come along as always), & it's "supposed to be" 915-561-9688. It'll get the "disconnected" message until hooked up maby Monday, and not answered until I get there. For emergencies, I've set up a 2 way alphanumeric pager with it's own email address, "garyh@skytel.com" ... When I'm near any larger city I can reply from it directly. Of course it's limit is a couple of hundred characters but enough to be useful. It also has store and deliver if I'm out of range, so they claim "guaranteed delivery".. Colorado is having a colder winter than the last couple of years, a couple of days ago the wind chill was -15f ! Since Odessa is south of here, it won't be much colder than here, maby 20f cooler, if that. I'll have tonic on board & fedex is everywhere so I can ship from there, just not when on the road. Take care & have a warm & safe holidays:) Hugs to all, Gary & the gang of fur Timmy's web site=; He's the ferret totally healed from "terminal lymphoma" without drugs or surgery. :) Timmy's Mailing List = http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/TimmyFerret Timmy's Forum = http://forums.delphi.com/m/main.asp?sigdir=TimmyFerret Another emil for me is , in case the indrirect.com has trouble. ---------------------- End of FAIML #481------------------------