From:
kestrelinden@gmail.com
Date: 2006-07-14 15:52:40 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] RE: Long overdue - Paxie & Bear Updates 6/29/06
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Paxie update - hard lump pathology and geriatric bloodwork is in. Everything looks just fine. The hard lump was possibly a fibrous plug involved with the gland abcess. Surgery site healed very well. Paxie is back to "normal" and running about happy as ever. We'll watch the other side from now on in case something happens with it. Both me and my vet were unaware of an abcessed anal gland taking this long (five year-old ferret) to present. I'm curious if we're not alone but I was under the impression that they typicallly present much earlier.
If anyone on this list is in Northeast Tennessee needing excellent ferret care, I'd be glad to share my experiences. I love my vets. Please contact me offlist.
Change of subject to adrenal ferrets -
Author wrote:
> FYI: some ferrets after adrenal surgery just do not regrow fur until the next strong shedding cycle.
I'm curious how common the following pattern is - Bear showed adrenal signs but only minimal hair loss on feet and tail in June 2004. Surgery was July 2004. He did not grow the shaved hair on his stomach back until Spring 2005. As soon as he finally started growing his shaved stomach hair back, he began to slowly, steadily lose hair on his shoulders, then his back, stomach, and tail.
For whatever reason, it was not until I remembered the vet mentioning the benefits of sunlight for adrenal ferrets just this June, 2006. By this point, he has hardly any hair on his body, although he still has hair on his face and remnants on his feet and tail. He was not showing any other adrenal symptoms to suggest the other gland was acting up. I even remember during his Fall 2005 checkup, when presenting an almost bald ferret, that I was preparing myself to watch until he was no longer interested in life, food, and playing. To give him the best until he said he was tired, and then to keep him comfortable and pass on if needed. I thought it might be pushing our luck to get him to six years old. My vet was in agreement.
But then I remember about the sunlight. I start to take him outside in early June 2006, every day, between 1 - 15 minutes depending on his behavior, usually around or just before dusk. Within two weeks, we started seeing the very beginnings of hair growing on his shoulders. This gradually extended down his back, stomach, and tail. As of today, he is completely covered in fur that is about 3/4 the length it had been before all of this started and still growing. His activity level and behavior are as energetic as when he was younger, and he is also no longer excessively abusive to our female, to the point finally where they can share playtime.
I understand that an adrenal ferret often doesn't have hair grow back until a major shedding cycle and that there are two each year, fall and spring. This makes sense to me. Bear's pattern after his surgery in July 2004 seemed to be - missed regrowth in Fall 2004, regrew shaved stomach hair Spring 2005 but then began to lose all body hair, missed regrowth Fall 2005, missed regrowth Spring 2006, began to regrow hair two weeks after daylight sessions June 2006. One month after sessions started, about 3/4 length of hair on entire body has returned.
I am curious if there is a website or resource somewhere that describes more details about their shedding cycles? I am also very curious about sunlight and its effects. I've read that melatonin is often used for adrenal ferrets with good results. How does the pineal gland, the main source (the only source?) for melatonin production in the body, fit into the cycle? How does its regulation of circadian rhythm fit into the picture, in which the cycles are affected by the pattern of sunlight received through the eye, affecting the pineal?
Maureen, Paxie, Bear, Adobe, TaDa
====================================================================<<<
Orange Broadband 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%3D17880