From:
Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2005-11-15 22:52:56 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Advice needed please-right adrenal surgery
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
>Hi, Amanda, and everyone else,My reason for posting is to ask for peoples
>opinions on right adrenal surgeries. I never had the right surgery done based off
>of advice I was given by a certain group of people.
>Here are my questions:
>What are the ages of ferrets who have had right adrenal surgeries?
>Type of surgery?
>Success/mortality rate?I feel you've been given terrible advice.
My ferrets who have had right adrenal surgery were not quite 2 years old, 3 years
old, and 7.5 years old. All came through just fine. All had conventional
microsurgery with vena cava ligation. Cryosurgery is, in the opinion of the vets I
trust, no better and no worse than any other surgical method. The best method is
the one your vet is comfortable with.
Oh, and as you might have guessed, the mortality rate for my ferrets was zero.
Pertwee lived three and a half years with no adrenal glands. He was my most wired
and insane weasel both before and after. His adrenal disease was an aggressive
carcinoma and our vet felt the surgery was lifesaving. Liver cancer got him in the
end.
Podo was the one who had the surgery at age seven and a half. His left gland was
not diseased. He lived to be 10 and had a great quality of life until the week he
died.
The only one who didn't live more than a few months afterwards was Ryo-Ohki and
that was because the adrenal carcinoma had already metastasized, something that
was not detected at the time of surgery. The surgery was entirely successful and
she did recover from it.
The main concern you should have about this surgery is not that it's a right adrenal
gland being removed. The concern you should have is that your ferret will be
bilateral afterwards. The deaths that occur from surgically induced Addison's
Disease are caused by not recognizing the symptoms and treating them soon
enough or occasionally by inexperienced vets who don't know what to do. Go
through the archives and study up on Addison's Disease and Addisonian Crisis.
With prompt intervention by your vet a full blown crisis should be avoided and your
ferret will recover just fine once electrolytes are in balance.
My Ella (age three or four, we're not quite sure as she was a stray) *may* be facing
a recurrence of adrenal. (I say *may* because the symptoms have disappeared for
now.) I have no doubt that if she does have adrenal again I'll take her to a vet I trust
and she'll have her right out. Why? It simply gives her the best chance for a full life
and an excellent quality of life.
I am not a vet. I'm just a moderately experienced ferret owner.
All the best,
Caity and the fantastic four
---------------------------------
Yahoo! FareChase - Search multiple travel sites in one click.
====================================================================<<<
Whatever you Wanadoo, click below:
http://ads.smartgroups.com/adclick/CID=000000b7c79a99a500000000
====================================================================>>>
--
If you want to share pictures, use the calendar, or start a vote
visit http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
To leave the group, email: ferrethealth-unsubscribe@smartgroups.com
Report abuse http://www.smartgroups.com/text/abusereport.cfm?gid%3D1423922&mid%3D16009