From:
FurTulsa
Date: 2001-07-14 16:12:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] ADV Surgery
Thank you very much Dr Murray. I was getting a bit confused
myself. :)
No she has not have prior surgery, and no we have no
assumption she is a righty, and I wonder if someone else's
symptoms got mixed up with mine.
The ONLY reason we know Jojo has Adrenal is due to aggression,
lack of hair growth AND the blood test verifying it.
She doesn't have a swollen vulva... and the hair problem is
NOT classic Adrenal.
In short, Jojo came in last September. Severely malnourished,
anemic and dehydrated and weighed only 14 ounces. She was
mostly bald, and what hair she had was as brittle as a Brillo
pad. but she was also covered in scratches and scabs, fleas
and mites. Her small bare cage was 4-5 inches deep in solid
build up of waste matter and she was also covered with urine
and feces blisters.
She responded to treatments and began a very speedy and
remarkable recovery process... but then she hit a certain
point and would not recover any further. At this point, all
that nasty hair had fallen out and new hair was attempting to
regrow... healthier, softer and more normal hair. But about 2
months ago, the new hair growth just stopped... leaving her
coat thin and patchy and she continued to stop progressing,
even though she did not regress.
Because of the fact that is all other ways, she appears active
and feeling good and happy... I decided to run a full series
of bloodwork and exams to try to determine what problem might
be underlying to cause this. THAT is when we received the
positive ADV results AND the positive Adrenal results.
And pretty much, that is where we stand right now. Her hair
has never gone past this half grown in patchy phase, she
doesn't get along with other ferrets (which may be Adrenal
related) and is still too thin for my tastes... but acts as if
she is healthy and feels good... eats and drinks well and
shows no other ill effects.
Oh and we estimate her to be between 3-4 years old now.
Susan
FURTulsa
----- Original Message -----
From: AFERRETVET@cs.com
To: Ferret-Health-list@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2001 2:50 PM
Hi FURTulsa, You asked several good questions about doing
surgery on an ADV positive ferret. The answer for the most
of them is we do not for sure. I am a little confused by
some of the responses to this question.
Did this ferret have a prior adrenal surgery ( thus we know
it is a righty) or did someone just guess that it
is a righty based on the signs? As Danee pointed out there
are some extra risks with doing surgery on an ADV ferret
because they may have liver, kidney, and clotting problems.
In addition the stress of the surgery may make the AD worse,
and they may be more prone to post surgery infections. If
she is 6 or 7 years old then Lupron would be my choice for
her adrenal gland treatment.
Hope that helps,
Jerry Murray, DVM