From:
Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2004-10-06 03:23:38 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] vena cava
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <9182681.1097035511680.JavaMail.nobody@strontium.smartgroups.com>
Hi, Julie, and everyone else,
>
> My ferret spaz just got home from adrenal surgery
> and the vet had to remove his vena cava.
I seriously doubt the vena cava, the main vein to the
heart, was removed. I suspect what your vet did was
to ligate the vena cava to remove a part of the right
adrenal gland attached to the vein.
Our Pertwee had that surgery at age one and a half,
and it was part of his second adrenal surgery.
Ryo-Ohki had the same surgery at age three, again a
second adrenal surgery. Podo had the surgery at the
age of seven and a half, his only adrenal surgery. In
each and every case the ferret came through the
surgery just fine, but in each and every case that
particular surgery was rough on the little weasels.
Expect Spaz's recovery to be longer than with a left
adrenal surgery. He'll be uncomfortable for a few
days at least. He probably won't want to run around
much and may not want to eat. You probably will have
to hand or spoon feed him. Bob Church's Chicken Gravy
is a really good idea now as it provides very high
quality nutrition. It also helps that our ferrets
always saw it as a treat.
Oh, and for the record, Pertwee lived another four
years and Podo lived for another two and a half years.
Ryo-Ohki only lived another three months but that had
nothing to do with the surgery. Her carcinoma
metastasized.
I'm going to shock some people here, but at least a
few people on this list know our vet and knows that
what I'm about to report is accurate. Our vet
*routinely* ligates the vena cava when removing a
right adrenal gland. Almost all ferrets who have
right adrenal surgery with our vet go through this
procedure. Our vet explained that right adrenal
glands/tumors are *always* attached to the vena cava
and this is the only way he feels comfortable in
insuring that the entire gland is removed. He has
said to me that if any of the gland is left in so is
the disease. His success/survival rate on this
surgery is something like 95%.
I once said that our vet is "conservative" about
deciding to do surgeries and one of the moderators
here who knows me and knows our vet said that any vet
who routinely ligates the vena cava isn't
conservative. I guess she's right but you can't argue
with success.
BTW, the 50% figure your vet gave doesn't mean that he
is any less successful than our vet. He knows the
details of Spaz's condition and any other medical
issues are involved. I'd keep a close eye on your
little guy and if anything seems to be going wrong I'd
get him right back to the vet.
Good luck to you and Spaz.
All the best,
Caity and the fantastic four