From:
Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2005-05-28 02:21:24 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Adrenal/rt side/Lupron not working
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <19116636.1117247419431.JavaMail.nobody@magnesium.smartgroups.com>
Hi,
> My old girl is adrenal again. I started her on
> lupron last month. Within a couple days of the
> first shot the
> swelling of her vulva went down. Gave her a second
> shot 2 weeks ago and I have noticed that the
> symptoms are coming back.
I hate to say this but the tumor is still growing and
the lupron at the same dosage may no longer be able to
suppress the symptoms. If your little girl is strong
enough to survive the second surgery it is a better
option.
I'll add a huge caveat to that: second adrenal
surgeries, particularly if we are talking about the
right adrenal gland, are, IME, always difficult and
the recovery won't be easy. Please, please, please:
if you consider a second surgery make sure of all of
the following:
1) Your vet has done right adrenal surgeries before
and is confident he or she can completely remove the
entire gland. I am less concerned about the surgical
procedure (either cryosurgery or traditional
microsurgery with vena cava ligation) so long as the
vet is comfortable with what they are doing and can
get the whole gland. Do ask about your vet's success
rate.
2) Read all you can about surgically induced
Addison's Disease and the symptoms, including those
leading up to an Addisonian Crisis. This can kill
your ferret even if the surgery goes well.
3) Make sure you have plans for emergency care 24
hours a day seven days a week in case of Addisonian
symptoms. Your vet may be affiliated with an
emergency clinic in your area or may be willing to
take an off hours call in a real emergency. Either is
good.
If you've got all of the above nailed down there is no
reason an otherwise healthy ferret can't live years
without any adrenal glands. Our Pertwee lived for
almost four years without and it was liver cancer
(completely unrelated) that got him in the end.
> I was just going to try to treat her medically
> because of her age (around 7years) but now I'm
> thinking about surgery.
My Podo had his right adrenal gland out at seven and a
half, conventional surgery with vena cava ligation.
He lived to just about 10. However, he still had his
left adrenal gland. I've never had a ferret go
through a second adrenalectomy at that age. It's a
really tough decision.
The key is this: is your old girl otherwise healthy?
Is she really strong? If the answer to both is yes
and your vet thinks she can come through surgery OK
then I might consider it. Otherwise I'd look at
increasing the lupron dosage or adding melatonin. At
that age there are more risks and what you will put
her through isn't easy on a young ferret, let alone
one her age.
> My question is: Does lupron work all the time?
Definitely not. Our original vet had about 50%
success with it. Podo, who had his adrenal disease
recur when he was nine and a half years old, was a
poster child for lupron. His symptoms went away for
the rest of his life. He had insulinoma and
cardiomyopathy by then and there is no way he could
have survived another surgery.
> What
> type of med will she be on w/o adrenals?
Our vet used florinef and pediapred (prednisolone) for
Ryo-Ohki. Our Pertwee didn't respond to pediapred at
all (which caused his Addisonian Crisis) so he ended
up on florinef and dexamethasone. Some vets use
percoten.
> Is there a option medically?
Lupron and melatonin are pretty much it. They won't
cure anything but they will relieve symptoms, which,
at seven, may be enough.
I'm not trying to scare you away from surgery. I
don't honestly know what I'd do if she was mine. I
know I've had ferrets as old as eight come through
major surgery well. I think you need to get as
educated as you can possibly be and discuss this at
length with your vet. If your vet thinks your ferret
can survive the surgery and the possible period of
electrolyte imbalance afterward and is comfortable
doing the surgery it may be worth considering *if*
your vet can remove the entire gland. If the gland
isn't fully excised the disease will still be there.
Again, I don't envy you your decision. Good luck!
The usual disclaimer applies: I am not a vet. I've
had eight ferrets who developed adrenal disease at
some point in their lives, two who eventually had both
glands out. That hardly makes me an expert.
All the best,
Caity and the fantastic five
(Nyssa, Romana, Ella, Zephyr, and Chin Soon)