From:
Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2004-12-06 21:22:21 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] adrenal surgery vs melatonin implants
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <20041206212221.14598.qmail@web50808.mail.yahoo.com>
Hi, Mary and everyone else,
There is no substitute for adrenal surgery. Melatonin
does not cure the disease. It does not make the tumor
go away.
Our vet in NC has a better than 95% success rate with
adrenal surgeries. Probably much better. He has done
adrenal surgeries on seven of our ferrets over the
past seven years, and second surgeries on two. That's
a total of nine adrenal surgeries, including three
right adrenalectomies. All were successful. One
right was on a ferret, Podo, who was seven and a half
years old. He lived to be just about 10.
Having said all that there is *always* a risk in doing
surgery. The question you really need to ask is what
the chance of success for your ferret is. What is the
chance he or she will have a good quality of life
afterwards. We opted for lupron instead when Podo's
adrenal disease recurred, but he was nine and a half
and had cardiomyopathy and insulinoma by then. Non
surgical options are the way to go only when the
ferret isn't a good surgical candidate.
Yes, I have heard horror stories about adrenal
surgeries. I question the skills of the vets in
question if they have a poor success rate. In such a
case I'd sooner find another vet, even if they are
more expensive or farther away, than skip the surgery
on one of mine.
Again, I am not a vet. I've just been where you are
on 10 separate occasions in the past.
All the best,
Caity and the fantastic four
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