From: Lynn McIntosh [faiml@uswest.net] Sent: Thursday, January 18, 2001 3:20 AM To: FAIMLanon; FAIML Subject: FAIML #503; Jan. 18, 2001 Ferret Adrenal/Insulinoma Mailing List (FAIML) #503; Jan. 18, 2001 There are nine messages in today's list: Buddy Konrad Milly Adrenal itching Lynn's Wally- Healing Thoughts Please Update Martin Question Lymphoma Thanks for the condolences Help!! Please (re moving).... 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 find. 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 and send to . Remember: the more specific you can be in your subject heading the greater the chance someone will be able to find your important info when searching the archives. 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 get it; then I'll 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 Michael is kindly posting pictures of FAIML subscribers and their ferrets in a FAIML Album. 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 new subscribers the "Disease Package", a file that tells how to get all six of Pamela Greene's FAQs on ferret diseases. Pam has also compiled 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. Plus, it comes out daily. I encourage people to cross post on the FML and FAIML to get the most possible exposure and feedback. Visit FERRET CENTRAL website (you can find its address in the 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: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 14:21:40 -0600 (CST) From: "Buetow" Subject: Buddy I'm looking for some help with Buddy. I'm not sure what would be best for her, so I'm hoping her situation sounds familiar to someone. First, I need to say that Buddy has had insulinoma for about two years and is on both pred and proglycem. Beginning several months ago, Buddy's stools began to get somewhat soft. In spite of the fact that we put her on Kaopectate, her stools have become very soft, even liquid at times, and she now has urine burn/diaper rash. Most of the time, she doesn't use the litter box anymore. Some time ago, she also started to grind her teeth when I gave her medicine and also when she went to the bathroom. (I could understand the medicine, but couldn't figure out the bathroom.) Within the last month, Buddy hasn't been eating as much soup, although she's increased the amount of kibble she's eating. In spite of this, she has lost a lot of weight. She's also become very wobbly on her feet at times and has a hard time turning and also walking on slippery surfaces. In mid-November when we checked her liver enzymes, they were very elevated. At the end of December, those levels had come down to where they were only slightly above normal. Buddy has lost a lot of hair (which we originally attributed to metabolic problems), but now her vulva is swollen and it's probably that she has adrenal disease. She doesn't do very much when let out to play, but at times seems frantic to get out of her cage. Finally, Buddy is eight years old. I just lost Xan after unsuccessful surgery, so going that route would be very difficult for me. But I'm beginning to think it's the only option. I need to do something for her, but I don't know what. If this sounds familiar to anyone or if anybody has suggestions, I would love to hear from you. Thanks for your help. Chris and Buddy Sunshine Missing Pippy, AD, and Xan with all our hearts buetowc@sls.lib.il.us Date sent: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 00:40:39 -0500 From: "Sarah Manningsmith" Subject: Konrad We ended up having to put Konrad to sleep last week. He developed a prostate problem and it swelled up blocking off his bladder. We did everything we could, but he didn't respond to the meds, and the prostate prevented a catheter. He wasn't in pain, and he kissed us both goodbye. I'm going to take some time off now, but soon will write a memory; he truley was an amazing ferret. The house feels so empty without by bouncing fuzzies. Also, I'm working on some info for charities that I will talk about later. A very heartbroken Sarah, Dave and the cats, Jinx and Bagheera Date sent: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 17:53:12 -0000 From: Melissa.Sullivan@CliffordChance.com Subject: Milly Greetings all. Milly Grace, my 4 year old, Marshall Farm female, went to the vet yesterday. Her blood glucose was low (61). The vet did an ultrasound - everything else looks completely fine. Liver, spleen, pancreas all looked good (or, so I'm told). No noticeable growths, tumors, inflammations, etc. Physical exam did not reveal any abnormalities. Stupid me - I didn't know the vet would do a glucose test, so I didn't take food away from Milly and didn't pay any attention to when she ate. So, I am a bit hesitant to embrace an insulinoma diagnosis based solely on the non-fasting blood glucose. Please correct me if I am wrong. Milly has shown absolutely no physical signs of the disease. In fact, Milly is quite the tenacious "young" lady and never bothered to calm down as she became an aging beauty - I guess no one told her she was supposed to! Her appetite is terrific (Totally Ferret for older ferrets); her activity level is phenomenal. Milly doesn't fancy treats - just an occasional Cheerio and some Ferrotone when she's caught doing something good - making elimination of sugary treats unnecessary since they are non-existent in her eyes. Milly is little (1.5 pounds) but healthy; not too skinny - not at all overweight. The vet gave me a pro-enzyme to add to Milly's food with a few other suggestions (Brewer's yeast, extra protein, precautions with respect to seizures, etc.). We will (properly) re-test Milly's glucose in 3 months and discuss treatment options at that time. I trust my vet completely. He is well respected, treats a lot of ferrets and just generally knows his stuff. Being my first time with a ferret with possible insulinoma, I would appreciate any suggestions or advice. I've been on this list since September (when Milly's best friend, Fee, was diagnosed with adrenal) so I have been absorbing what has been posted. Of course, the first place I went was to miamiferret.org (THANK YOU, Michael Janke - what an amazing source of information). I am particularly interested in anything that I can do with respect to Milly's diet to control her glucose levels, if at all possible. Thank you! Melissa Sullivan ******* This message and any attachment are confidential and may be privileged or otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient, please telephone or email the sender and delete this message and any attachment from your system. If you are not the intended recipient you must not copy this message or attachment or disclose the contents to any other person. For further information about Clifford Chance please see our website at http://www.cliffordchance.com or refer to any Clifford Chance office. Date sent: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 01:14:10 EST From: GRFerrets@aol.com Subject: Adrenal itching Hi, I've recently had more than my share of vet bills and just had yet another ferret come down with adrenal. I will be treating this surgically, but can't do it for a couple months. As this is a female, there is no huge urgency that I am aware of. My problem is that this is the first I've had who is sooo itchy. She regularly (daily) scratches herself bloody. Is there anything I can do to make her more comfortable while we await the funds for surgery? Thank you!! Kim Date sent: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 20:58:41 -0800 From: Lynn McIntosh Subject: Lynn's Wally- Healing Thoughts Please Hi. Our Wally is going in for surgery this Thursday. We'd appreciate any healing thoughts and prayers, if you're so inclined. This will be Wally's second insulinoma and adrenal surgery. He is seven and a quarter. He also has a very large, hard growth (bigger than an egg!) low in his right abdomen. This past week he has begun grinding his teeth and having dark stools. He's getting a bajillion meds, poor baby, carafate, amoxi, pediapred, Proglycem, baby food, sub-q fluids.... the works. He can't walk well any more, and runners for him criss-cross our home. He's our second fur kid, and extremely sweet. We have a wonderful surgeon, Cindy Bishop, who is bringing her own boy fur kid in case a transfusion is needed (the growth could be his spleen or on his spleen). My favorite Wally story happened after we lost sweet Percy, our first adrenal boy. We let the fur kids "view" his body. Wally took our first fur kid, Gadzook, and holed up in our small carrier (Gadzook's first home). Wally wouldn't let any of our other six fur kids inside and let out a piercing scream if anyone approached! This from a normally docile and sweet fuzzy. Waltee, however, has one weakness... squeaky toys. And Tarzan, the wise, smart, and kind, cleverly brought a squeeky ball to the door of the cage where he was instantly allowed entrance! Tarzee then, being even smarter (he thought), clompled off to put the squeak toy back in hiding, and returned quickly, sans ball, at the mouth of the carrier to eagerly await entrance. Loud screams once again barred his entrance! Tarz, the brave and mighty, did not dare brave fearless Wally, who seemed to be protecting his beloved Gadzook.... And, we are hedging our bets to make sure we don't lose our Wally by asking for healing thoughts and prayers, for those inclined, from folks. He seems very fragile, but he seemed fragile before surgery last year and did better than any fur kid we've ever had go through surgery! His heart, which checked out great in an ultrasound last year, sounds loud and clear. Three cheers for Mr. Wally LeMarche! And... thank you :) Lynn, Wally, two-legged Janos, and Gadzook, Claudette, Minnie, and Lucy.... the Fearless Five!... and 19-year-old Mr. Wellington the Cat Date sent: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 15:57:10 -0500 From: "Carrie Miller" Subject: Update Martin Hi to all! Just a little update on Martin. We went back to the vet and had an insulanoma test done this weekend. The results were normal. It looks like we may be out of the woods for a while! We'll go back every three months for another test and check-up though! In the mean time, I recently adopted Lucy from the C-Ferrets Rescue in Orlando. She's about 11 months old, and was neglected as a kit. She is a little shy around people, doesn't cuddle much, and has a tendency to bite (and hard!) when she's trying to get my attention. But so far, she's coming around to living in a happy environment. Timmy is just plodding along like normal, just being a big troublemaker like always! Thanks to everyone who wrote about Martin, I'll let you know if there is anything new! Carrie (and Martin, Timmy and Lucy) Date sent: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 12:37:42 EST From: Cjbandit@aol.com Subject: Question Lymphoma Hi everybody, Just wondering if someone could answer a question for me in regard to lymphoma, enlarged spleen and scabs/?? Bandit is a pudgie little guy (3lbs and 4-1/2 ounces to be exact)thats really the heaviest he's been. But it's not to out of the ordinary so I'm not overly concerned, what concerns me is that I believe he has enlarged spleen and that's why his tummy is so fat, the vet confirmed by suspicion but said it's pretty typical in ferrets. 1) What are some of the bad things that can happen if his spleen is enlarged?? is there anything I can do to prevent it from getting bigger?? 2) What is lymphoma and how do you know if your ferret has it?? Is there a test you can take to rule it out completely?? 3) What tests should I have performed when I take Bandit in for a checkup and what kind of exam is could to get on a routine basis. The vet doesn't seem to do much with Bandit when I bring him in that's why I'm asking.(I have his sodium/potassium levels checked quite frequently since he had both his adrenals removed). 4) Recently Bandit had a big scab under his chin and I thought he got it from rubbing it against everything. He often rubs that area on the carpet, newspaper, my slippers whatevers in sight-this takes place after he eats his babyfood. I just figured he got some of it on his chin and was trying to wipe it off. I had the vet take a look at it and oddly enough he thought it was acne, I tend to disagree. He gave me an antibacterial ointment to apply to it twice a day for 7-10 days. The scab came off while I was cleaning it and bled just a tiny bit and it seems to be much better. The redness and irritation is almost all gone and his hair in that area is visible again. I was just reading alot about basil cell tumors and scabs and wondering how to determine if thats what Bandit had going on??? Thanks so much, If it wasn't for your help I wouldn't have known anything about adrenal disease and Bandit wouldn't be as happy and healthy as he is today. Date sent: Tue, 16 Jan 2001 22:43:22 -0800 From: "Deborah Magerr" To: faiml@uswest.net Subject: Thanks for the condolences Just wanted to say thanks for the condolences for Sid. I couldn't stand to look at an empty cage, so this weekend I took the long drive from CA to AZ and got myself my first "baby". I have always adopted older ferrets, therefore I don't get as much time with them as I would like. "Bailey" is a very cute cinnamon! And I'm a proud mom. Hope everyones fuzzys are doing well! Debbie & Bailey (Punky, Sid & Nancy at the bridge) ---------------- Sent from a WebBox - http://www.webbox.com FREE Web based Email, Files, Bookmarks, Calendar, People and Great Ways to Share them with Others! Date sent: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 18:20:33 EST From: GRFerrets@aol.com Subject: Help!! Please (re moving).... Hi, We are relocating from Michigan to Lakeland, FL and have run across a problem. Up here, I operate a small ferret shelter. In part due to the shelter (and in part because I can't resist), I am currently housing 13 ferrets and do not anticipate a drop in that number before we move. We also have 3 dogs and 3 cats. The ferrets and cats are indoor-only animals, and obviously make little to no noise. The dogs go outside and will be restrained by way of a fence or by a leash. The dogs are not allowed to go outside and bark. They are indoor dogs who only go out to relieve themselves. ALL the animals are spayed/neutered and current on all shots. OK, here's the problem: We found a wonderful house in a nice development. I just found out that they have a restriction on the number of pets you can have. You cannot keep more than 3 total animals. Has anyone else encountered this problem? What, if anything can I do about it? The board members cannot change this without an overwhelming majority of the neig hborhood voting for the change. This house is just about perfect right down to the fact that the owner doesn't want to leave until June (when we would be moving). Can anyone give me some advice?? Thank you! Kim ---------------------- End of FAIML #503 ------------------------