From:
Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2004-03-20 18:09:46 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] surgery dilemma
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <5226838.1079808547075.JavaMail.nobody@strontium.smartgroups.com>
Hi, everyone,
We have or have had six ferrets with adrenal disease.
All had at least one surgery, two went on to have
second surgeries at some point later on. We have had
good outcomes from surgery in all cases save possibly
Ryo-Ohki. In her case the carcinoma had metastasized
throughout her body as revealed by a third
(expoloratory) surgery and we decided not to let her
wake up since she had been suffering. The first two
surgeries were entirely successful IMHO.
The problem with not doing surgery in an adrenal
ferret is that the disease does continue to progress.
The risk of a carcionoma metastasizing is low, but the
longer you leave it in there the greater the risk
becomes. There is also the risk of prostate problems
in males and less common but equally dangerous
problems in females.
Also, the longer you go the more debilitating the
disease becomes. We did have one rescue die on the
table, but she had been left untreated for a very long
time, was skinny, and had little muscle mass. All of
that was due to untreated adrenal disease. If she had
surgery sooner she probably would have gotten through
this fine.
Bottom line: if a ferret is otherwise healthy and a
good surgical candidate our vet always opts for
surgery. In each case it's been the right answer for
our ferrets.
FWIW, our vet just did a left adrenal surgery on a 9.5
year old ferret. He went in only because of another
condition that would have certainly been fatal very
quickly and removed the adrenal gland at the same
time. Last I heard the old girl had made it through
surgery and was recovering at home. I still don't
know how the final outcome will turn out.
The usual disclaimer applies: I am not a vet, only a
moderately experienced ferret owner who has had to
make similar decisions I have yet to regret a
decision for one of my ferrets to have surgery, and I
have certainly seem dramatic improvements in quality
of life.
All the best,
Caity and the super seven