From:
"Stephanie"
Date: 2003-02-24 03:21:31 UTC
Subject: right adrenal, hair regrowth and sexual displays
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <001001c2dbb3$d4076ac0$87bfc318@computer>
Hello everyone.
I have two questions relating to the same thing.
My 2.5 yo neutered male MF ferret (around 2.5 lb), Rascal, was diagnosed wi=
th adrenal disease the middle of last October. He had the classic sign of =
all over the body hair loss (this was sudden onset with no previous hair lo=
ss, occurring at the time of his winter shed). Our vet had given him a 6 w=
eek shot of Lupron while we considered surgery. Within less than a week of=
the shot hair regrowth started, which we were told would probably not occu=
r until after surgery or at least the next shot. He regrew ALL of his hair=
into the most amazingly full winter coat. During the first week of Decemb=
er, he had adrenal surgery, in which it was found that his right adrenal gl=
and was affected and removed. The tumor was the roughly the size of a dime=
, and our surgeon had to remove a small piece of his liver in order to remo=
ve all of the tumor. He had a relatively easy recovery, once we prevented =
him from accessing his sutures.
Because he had a full normal coat at the time of surgery, he had to be shav=
ed. In this case, how soon should we see hair regrowth happening? I know =
that it is not unusual for healthy ferrets that have been shaved to not gro=
w hair back until their next shed, is it wrong to assume the same thing her=
e? He has started to grow some hair back in the shaved area, especially ar=
ound the suture line, but otherwise it seems to be sporadic growth around t=
he shaved area.
My next question is regarding sexual displaying in males. I know that it h=
as been remarked upon that this is usually a sign of adrenal disease. Howe=
ver, in Rascal's case, he has always shown what I would know consider to be=
sexual displaying since he was a kit. As a kit/young adult he would grab =
onto one of his stuffed toys and wrap his body around it for a long while. =
When he got cages mates, I found that he would do this with our younger ma=
le as well. Before surgery, it had picked up quite a bit in frequency. Af=
ter surgery, I found that he had stopped until just recently, when I notice=
d that he had started this again but in decreased frequency. Now given his=
history of doing this since a kit, is it likely that this is non-adrenal r=
elated and more of a habit/dominance issue (he never does this with our fem=
ale ferret that shares the same cage)? Or is it possible that he has been =
adrenal without the clinical sign of any hair loss since less than a 1 year=
of age? The only hair loss he had previous to the diagnosis of adrenal di=
sease was his spring and fall sheds.
Any insight to either question would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to =
post me privately at sgoettsc@nycap.rr.com if you do not wish to post to th=
e list. =
Thank you
Stephanie Goettsch