From:
Bruce Williams, DVM
Date: 2001-06-15 21:43:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Vets Please: Non-Surgical Treatment for Adrenal
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., katharine <shurcool@i...> wrote:
> I think I mentioned a few weeks ago that there was
> a suspicion that Champ (kidney disease) might be
> adrenal again based on some skin problems. He has
> no other symptoms but he also had no symptoms the
> last time, and his right adrenal was huge when Doc
> did an exploratory (his right had "re-grown" after
> apparently a remant was left during cryosurgery
> about 6 months previously). An exploratory was
> done because we couldn't figure out what was going
> on with him but there was definitely a problem.
> Shortly after this surgery was when his kidney
> problems started (January).
>
> Here's my question. Is it safe to treat for
> adrenal, such as Lupron injections, if you're not
> positive there is an adrenal problem?
He is running a CBC and said we can
> get some indications from that and we'll decide
> whether to send the blood to UT after he looks at
> the in-house bloodwork.
Dear Katharine:
Lupron is safe even in the absence of hyperestrogenism.
There is really no specific in-house test that your vet can run to
establish the presence or absence of adrenal disease. Unlike dogs,
where you can pick up some specific clues, if you want a definitive
diagnosis via bloodwork, then you need to run the UT panel. There is
no marker in a CBC that will identify hyperestrogenism - there are
some changes that may suggest it, but none that will diagnosis it.
The money is better spent getting the UT test - three Luron
injections given to a ferret that doesn't need them is far more
expensive.
With kindest regards,
Bruce H. Williams, DVM, DACVP
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