From:
sweetcathie@hotmail.com
Date: 2004-08-29 02:13:12 UTC
Subject: Urea/Creatinine/Cortisol for adrenal conclusions
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <809928.1093745592026.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
Thanks Dr. Sue for your advice on how to get some urine sample in an easy way. I posted the other day about that Gigio my 5.5 y/o little ferret seems to have to strain a bit while urinating. I mentioned that about a year and a half ago I got adrenal panel results of him that I wanted to have as a reference at that time for the future, and in that moment the estradiol was already 209 pg/ml when the reference range that I have in the lab sheet is 30-180 pg/ml, the androstenedione was 12.2 nm/l and the 17 hydroxyprogesterone was 0.24nm/l both within range. I suspect that he may have been developing adrenals but here in Mexico city I haven't been able to find a lab that perform this tests with a low amount of plasma, they ask me for two mililiters of whole blood for each hormone!
The vet that is seeing Gigio that is also a breeder, took this morning a small blood sample (0.5 cc) to perform the urea/creatinine/cortisol analysis, claiming that if the cortisol is out of range it will evidence adrenals and renal failure. He is also going to test T4 to see if the tyroid gland has been damaged due to high cortisol. Here is when I feel so dumb and angry at myself, because in all the time that I have been reading the ferret health list I don't recall having read that cortisol is a way to test for adrenals in ferrets, I guess I did not react because I was confused as I was originally told by the vet that we will do an adrenal panel and I assumed we has going to test sex hormones, and then Gigio was struggling so hard to not have his neck shaved that I lost focus. I must have said something despite everything anyway... Now I guess that whatever comes out of the urea/creatinine/cortisol and T4 analysis I would not be able to conclude anything right?
If I have his estradiol(only) tested and knowing how it was more than a year ago to compare, will be a better thing to do? Please give me your advice. And I am also left down for the words of the vet that said that Gigio is already too old for surgery at his 5 years and 4 months and that he would not recommend me to perform a surgery on him, and this guy is supposed to be the one that knows most about ferrets in the city! I guess I will have to work overtime and safe money and take Gigio to USA to have him operated...
Thank you for your support and advice,
Caterina.