From:
Regina Harrison
Date: 2001-03-28 11:24:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Cody - elderly male urinary problem?
Diane wrote:
>I'm just wondering what are Cody's alternatives for treatment given his
> >age. I'd hate to think he might suffer recurrent urinary infections due
> >to the adrenal problem. Would Lupron help here? I'd asked about Lupron
> >at my vet's office last fall but was told all it might do is allow Cody
> >to regrow his coat so I shouldn't do it. After reading about Lupron on
> >this list it seems that Lupron can do quite a bit more than that.
Hi Diane,
My vet and I together decided to put my ferret Cully on Lupron under pretty
similar circumstances-- insulinoma combined with age and also lymphoma made
him a very poor surgical candidate. His coat was the least of the reasons
why I went with Lupron-- I wanted to avoid prostate problems and also I
wanted him to have some mental/emotional stability, because I could see that
he was unhappy and confused. According to my vet, Lupron has very minimal
side effects, so there was really nothing to lose by trying it. The three
month series is also not very expensive at my vet's (I'm in Boston, I'll
share the name with anyone who asks offlist).
It's a little harder to answer whether the Lupron helped for sure or not,
because as fate would have it Cully passed away shortly after the third
shot, but I think it did. The hair loss stopped, and I think the
adrenally-inspired agression dwindled. I'm not sure about the prostate as
he'd pretty much lost bladder control at the end, but I guess that could
indicate that he wasn't having trouble urinating, per se. We never saw any
signs of urinary infections.
For me, the bottom line was that the Lupron had the potential to make Cully
more comfortable, and it didn't have unpleasant side effects.
Regina
Regina Harrison regina_z@h... or regina@c...
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but no sleep runs this deep
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