From:
eeriksen@rei.edu
Date: 2001-08-27 17:03:00 UTC
Subject: Re: adrenal ferret- surgery or lupron?
Hello, just wanted to update everyone who kindly answered my
questions about my ferret with adrenal disease- my ferret Barky had
the surgery 6 days ago. The vet removed the left gland, and said the
right one was fine. The tumor was benign. He had a lot of bruising,
or bleeding,under the skin around the incision but that went away
after three days. He was very weak the first few days, and was not
able to walk without falling over. He's regained his ability to walk
without keeling over, but is still very quiet and sleeps most of the
time, and when he's up he goes to his favorite spot under the bed and
lays there. He only eats canned chicken cat food or AD mixed with
ferretvite- he won't touch the regular food. He will drink water but
only if I give it to him! Maybe he just wants to be babied(?) He
looks and acts a bit better daily though so Im just doing all I can
for him now and hoping he'll gradually start playing and eating his
food by himself.
Thanks alot for your advice, everyone.
Eileen and Barky
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., eeriksen@r... wrote:
> My ferret started losing his fur on his back about two months ago.
He
> is a blaze, small but active,about 1.8 lb. I adopted him last Oct.
so
> I don't know how old he is (they had told me about a year,
> but the vets think older- his teeth are bad too). He is still
> perky and plays and eats, etc. but I don't want to just let it
> progress. His regular vet recommends Lupron therapy once a month, I
> went to another who recommends surgery. I read alot and decided to
> have the surgery. A pre-op blood test looked normal, but he later
> bled from both feet where they took his blood. He evetually stopped
> and the vet said this is normal for adrenal ferrets (?) He seems
fine
> now and is scheduled for surgery in five days. The vet uses
> Isoflurane gas for anesthesia. He says most of the time they do
> well after the surgery and mostly it's the left adrenal- if it's
the
> right he'll close up and talk about other treatment. It seems like
> the right thing but I'm worried, since I've also read that he may
> have complications and die due to the other adrenal not being
> able to make enough cortisol or other complications. I know there's
> risk to any surgery. I'd appreciate anyone's advice/recommendations
> about surgery or Lupron treatment, and which has worked for them. I
> also wonder about which will extend his life further.
>
> Thanks alot,
> Eileen and "Barky"