Message Number: SG10947 | New FHL Archives Search
From: Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2004-10-06 04:02:01 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] RE: vena cava
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <19356985.1097035710957.JavaMail.nobody@magnesium.smartgroups.com>

Hi, everyone,

> Sukie, could cyro surgery have been preformed
> without Vena Cava ligation?

I'm not Sukie, nor do I play her on TV, but I'd like
to take a stab at this...

Our vet did cryo for a while but gave up on it. He
feels that with cryo it is very difficult to get the
entire adrenal gland without freezing a piece of the
vena cava. If you do touch the vena cava the ferret
bleeds out and dies. The net result is that a tiny
bit of the right adrenal gland is often left. He
feels that means the disease is still there as well.

He never claimed that it isn't possible to do a full
right adrenalectomy with cryo. What he told me is
that he just isn't convinced that cryo is a better
procedure for this particular surgery. He does what
he is most comfortable with and that's conventional
surgery at this point.

Again, Podo had this surgery at age seven and a half.
He lived to be almost 10 and remained an active and
playful ferret almost right to the end.

All the best,
Caity and the fearsome foursome