From:
"zodanga1"
Date: 2007-07-20 12:37:48 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: melatonin implant and lupron injections? (adrenal disease) - France
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
I tried to send this via personal mail but it would not go thru so
sending to group in hopes person sees it.
Hello,
I saw your msg below and wanted to contact you as one of my ferrets
also has adrenal disease and just in past 2 weeks had his right
adrenal gland removed. He is also on lupron and melatonin. It took me
awhile to find a vet that could/would and had experience to remove the
right adrenal gland. That is the harder one to remove. Many vets say
they can do it but in many cases what they are only debulking
(removing as much of it as they can), not actually removing it all.
This is because the right side typically grows connected to the main
vein (vena cava) in that location (and sometimes grows stuck to the
liver) and cannot all be removed without risking other things. There
are several specialist vets here that are doing a new procedure to
remove entire adrenal gland and that is what my guy, "Legolas, had. So
far things are OK and he is recovering but I probably won't know for 6
mo. to a year+ how well it worked. Unfortunately, like your ferret,
mine also has some signs showing the other adrenal gland may be going
bad. In effort to stop/slow the problem with the left he is getting
lupron injections and has a melatonin implant (plus you need to keep
in a dark - real dark - room for their sleep time and try to minic
sleep/wake cycles like in nature). The operation and associated
costs/med's cost around $1,700 (Argh!!!!), while the melatonin implant
was about $15 (and lasts for about 4 months - u can give this yourself
if you are brave) and the lupron injections cost about $35-$210
depending on what dose/time period you go with and if you buy/do the
injection yourself - link to pharmacy below)(the real time release
lupron if you buy from a vet here can cost from $60-$2000!! but I
don't have time to explain why now - just make sure you get time
release lupron - not 24 hour lupron as some vets will give you).
Anyway, speaking of time..I must close this and go. Here are some
links to check on:
http://www.custompetrx.com/leuprolide.htm (pharmacy to buy lupron -
they call it leuprolide (which I think is European term for it). you
and your vet will have to figure out needed dosage/time period - some
further links below may help with that.
http://miamiferret.org/fhc/index.html (adrenal menu on left top of
page - some selected pages highlighted in my links below)
http://miamiferret.org/fhc/vena_cava.htm
http://miamiferret.org/fhc/cryosurgery.htm (this one mentions a DVD on
how to do the surgery but neither I, nor my vet, were able to obtain
it or even talk to Dr. Weiss, and gave up after two weeks of
repeatably trying. So good luck if you try. :-(
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=2512
I'm not a vet, or medical person, just a ferret owner sharing my
personal experiences. Please research the issue further and draw your
own conclusions on what is best for your ferrie. Good luck.
P.S. - you email address has xvegan in it - does this mean you are a
"vegan" or a "x" (as in, former) "vegan"? Just curious as I am one for
past 3 years.
--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, "xveganx999" <xveganx999@...> wrote:
>
> Hi!
>
> I am french and my ferret (5 years-old) has adrenal disease. Both
> adrenals were affected.
> The right-one was removed in september 2006.
> Hair loss and weigh loss stopped.
> But my ferret is now againg having hair and weigh losses.
> In France, vets don't know many things about ferret.
> Only one vet in France use melatonin implant and lupron injections.
> My vet does not know anything about melatonin implant and lupron
> injections. But, I know he's looking for informations.
> So, I am looking for websites dealing with adrenal disease and
> melatonin implant and lupron injections to show him.
> Would you please tell me if such websites exist:
> - websites giving statistics about the efficience of melatonin and
lupron?
> -websites giving veterinary information about adrenal disease and
> melatonin implant and lupron injections? (not popularization ones for
> ferret owners)
>
> Thanks.
>
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