From:
Bruce Williams, DVM
Date: 2001-04-15 23:10:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Adrenal surgery vs Lupron therapy
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "Kim" <dagger4u@h...> wrote:
> I have a ferret just diagnosed with adrenal. She has a swollen
vulva.
> No other symptoms. We did the tenn panel on her and all her
hormones
> are elevated. She is 2 1/2. Very healthy. This vet stated he now
> wants to do an ultrasound (to look for enlarged glands), and then
he
> wants to start Lupron therapy. I always thought that if the ferret
was
> healthy, that surgery should be in order, not Lupron. I thought
that
> Lupron was something to use when surgery wasn't an option.
> Please help me understand this. I know this vet is very
experienced
> with ferrets, but I don't know how I feel about this.
Dear Kim:
I am going to agree with Mike on this one. With clinical signs of
adrenal disease and a positive panel, I question the necessity of an
ultrasound test, and strongly wonder why surgery was not offered in
the case of a yound healthy animal. If you look at post #2589, in
this weeks JAVMA, Lupron was once again proved to be a temporary fix,
with clinical signs recurring in all tested ferrets. To date, the
only chance for a cure is still surgery.
>
> Plus, at the price of getting the monthly injections for the rest
of
> her life, she could have the surgery and be done with it. (he is
> planning on charging $74 bucks a month) I think that is way too
high.
> When I stated I was part of a group that discussed ferrets and
asked
> certain questions, he acted upset and kept saying "fine, you do
> whatever you want" I wasn't happy at all with this. Am I being
too
> weird about all this?? Or am I way out of line here....geez. I
don't
> know. Don't get me wrong, if Lupron is the way to go, fine, I jsut
> thought surgery was better. Please advise.
Lupron is a very expensive drug - there is no getting around that.
But a poor attitude toward an educated client is another situation.
You may want to give it one more try, but after that, I suppose
looking for another, more open-minded vet is always an option.
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, dVM