From:
"April Armstrong Campbell"
Date: 2003-11-11 03:15:41 UTC
Subject: Torn cruciate ligament-best course of action? and vena cava stenting
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <000c01c3a802$16b864d0$952fb844@bigbox>
Hi. My vet and I (she's a board-certified orthopedic surgeon who also does=
a ton of adrenalectomies and insulinoma surgeries on ferrets) are research=
ing our best course of action for my 5-yr-old adrenal boy, Bandit. Some of=
you may recall that he's the ferret that had the "biggest adrenal tumor" m=
y vets had ever seen prior to Shannon's, which then became the biggest (her=
s was the size of my fist, was malignant, extremely aggresive, grown into t=
he liver, wrapped around the vena cava to the point where it was completely=
compromised at surgery; Shannon died two days later).
Bandit's adrenal tumor is also very tangled up in his vena cava, but we are=
considering the relatively new stenting procedure for it, gradually closin=
g it off completely in the hopes that the blood will reroute itself, basica=
lly. Any opinions on this or experience with it would be welcome; my vet l=
earned a lot about this at a conference, and it seems result in a recovery =
rate of about 75% in nonaggressive tumors, from what I have learned.
Our other problem with Bandit: He completely tore his left rear cruciate l=
igament-have no idea what he did!!! Anyway, if he was a dog, they'd do a T=
PLO repair, but in most cats and ferrets, I guess it normally just gets lef=
t to heal on its own, sometimes with splinting. He's not really in much pa=
in, and is getting around great, but we do have some concerns about scarrin=
g, etc., particularly in relation to his adrenal tumor and complications it=
could cause.
So any advice, experience, etc. in either regard would be greatly appreciat=
ed.
Dooks!
-April Armstrong Campbell and the Auburn Five