From:
Mike Janke
Date: 2001-07-01 08:55:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Adrenal Gland Disease
Your vet is correct that the gland on the right side is technically
more difficult to remove with standard surgery. But it could have
been debulked which probably would have helped more than just leaving
it alone.
Many people use Lupron to treat the symptoms of adrenal disease in
their ferrets. It works wonders, but it's important to understand
that it does not cure the disease. It only blocks certain hormones
thereby causing a reduction in the outwardly visible symptoms. Lupron
is given for the reminder of the ferret's life because once it is
stopped, symptoms return very quickly. Therefore, Lupron treatment
can exceed the cost of surgery in the long run.
There are a number of articles on Lupron usage on my
Adrenal/Insulinoma website. You might want to check them out. The
URL is http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc
If Callie is a good surgical candidate, you might want to consider
finding a vet that performs cryosurgery or one that is technically
proficient enough to remove most, if not all, of the right gland
without damagine the vena cava.
mike
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "Beth Shaw-Meyer" <bbb6483@y...>
wrote:
> My ferret Callie was diagnosed with adrenal gland disease and
> underwent surgery a few months ago. The vet said that if there
were
> tumors on both sides, he would only be able to remove the tumor on
> one side- the other side is too close to a major artery and risk of
> instant death was high. Unfortunately Callie had a tumor on each
> side so he removed just the one. She is in good spirits and has
> energy but she is very thin and has no hair from her shoulders
down.
> Would anyone know if drug therapy would help her? I have read
about
> a drug called Lupron that might be beneficial-does anyone have any
> experience with it?