From:
Burgess@swanimalhospital.com
Date: 2001-04-23 13:39:00 UTC
Subject: Re: adrenal shocker
Lisa,
It's not just bad luck. Early neutering increases your chances of
tumors, and the big fur farms all neuter very young. Did pathology
get run to confirm the diagnosis? Was it a true tumor? Many tumors
cause signs when very small and a few cause no sign even when huge
(not all tumors produce hormone). If you have a vet that is good at
palpation, most enlarging adrenals can be felt fairly early
(or can
ultrasound to see them). You can do exams every 6 months to be safe.
Urinalysis and physical exam often yield clues to presence of a
tumor. Running the hormone assays very frequently is probably
overkill at this time.
Best of luck,
Mark Burgess DVM
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "Shortley, Lisa" <shortleylj@m...>
wrote:
> Hello!
> Just wanted to tell you all that I had another bad thing happen with
my
> crew. I don't know why my guys are having such bad luck. But my
two year
> old ferret Tasia had an exploratory for a suspected stomach blockage
on
> Friday and while the debris was removed (white fuzzy stuff from
hammocks),
> an adrenal tumor on her left gland was found as well.
> Tasia showed absolutely no signs of adrenal disease - no behavior
changes,
> no coat changes - she's as white soft and fluffy as a bunny - no
swollen
> vulva - absolutely NOTHING.
> My vet said that he felt that he caught it early enough and that if
it had
> waited another 6 months or so, she would have started showing signs.
I'm
> thrilled to have caught this early but it makes me worry about the
rest of
> my crew now. Would I be overly paranoid to run the Tennessee panel
on the
> remainder of my crew that has not had adrenal surgery yet? I'd much
rather
> catch it early before they start showing signs. I know it isn't
100%
> accurate, but in cases such as these, would it pick that up
theoretically?
>
> As for the debris in her stomach, the only way I suspect that it got
into
> her system is that my guys dig at their hammocks and the fleecy
stuff that
> lines their hammocks and sacks gets loose and some always manages to
fall
> into their water bowl. She had to have dranken the fleecy stuff
with her
> water - there is no evidence of chewing and she is not a chewer at
all.
> Anyone know what I can do to stop this from happening again short of
no
> longer using the white fleecy stuff on hammocks and things?
> Thanks for listening,
> Lisa Shortley