From:
Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2005-04-15 01:09:36 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] cardiomyopathy/adrenal disease
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <20050415010936.78300.qmail@web50803.mail.yahoo.com>
Hi,
First, as a general rule, our vet in NC does adrenal
surgeries on any ferret he is convinced is strong
enogh to come through surgery well regardless of age.
Podo had his surgery at seven and a half and lived for
almost two and a half more years. I know that vet has
done successful adrenal surgeries on ferrets as old as
nine.
One sure-fire disqualifier for surgery is
cardiomyopathy. The risks outweigh the benefits. At
that point our vet starts lupron, generally a one
month depot so he can adjust the dosage more quickly
if necessary.
I hate to disagree with Bob Church but... you *never*
can tell if an adrenal tumor is a benign adenoma or an
aggressive carcinoma until you have it out and send ut
to the lab for pathology.
Case in point: Our Pertwee was a year and a half old
when he had his left adrenal gland out. His right
looked normal. The pathology report showed adrenal
carcinoma. His recovery started out brilliantly.
Then two or three weeks later adrenal symptoms started
up again. Five weeks after the first surgery he had
his second. The tumor was much larger that the first
one in only five weeks, it was a carcinoma, and it had
pushed out beyond the margins of the right adrenal
gland. In Pertwee's case our vet was convinced that
if we hadn't gotten such an aggressive carcinoma out
quickly it would have metastasized. I had that happen
with one ferret (Ryo-Ohki) and it killed her.
Lets say Pertwee was four and a half instead of one
and a half. Well... I've had ferrets see nine and one
just about saw 10. You see my point, I'm sure. One
other thought: long term lupron is much more
expensive that surgery. Why go for expensive
palleative care if you've got a real chance for a
cure?
Podo's adrenal disease recurred when he was nine and a
half years old. He had cardiomyopathy and insulinoma
by then. We used lupron which worked very well for
him for the last months of his life. He was symptom
free.
I know I usually talk about doing surgery. If Harry
were mine and I knew he had a heart condition I think
I'd try all non-surgical options first. I also think
I'd find a way to afford the cardiologist just in
case.
Some ferrets live a fairly long time with cardio. I
think Pam Sessoms is our resident expert on it, even
in 9, 10, and 11 year olds. I got a lot of very good
advice from her for Podo. Hopefully she'll have the
time to post.
All the best,
Caity and the fearsome fivesome
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