From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2007-05-09 17:37:54 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: difficulty urinating (continued)
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
If any of the common signs of adrenal disease
(fur loss, increasingly pear shape, changed
behavior to more like that of whole ferrets, etc.*)
or serious signs of adrenal disease (prostate
interfering with urination, anemia beginning, etc*)
are present then it just makes sense to SKIP the
tests that could or might verify adrenal disease
and go straight to surgery.
The TN Panel is expensive and is run only about
once a month so if this ferret clearly has adrenal
disease then go to surgery.
I still believe is pre-op CBC with Chemistry Panel
and for some also heart imaging when there
appears to be need because those can help spot
problems which could indicate that surgery
would be more difficult or risky for a given
ferret, or even sometimes if there are indications
of so many organ's numbers being off that there
could be a malignancy rather than a benign growth.
For most ferrets with adrenal disease it is clear
enough that it is present that there is no need to
test. For example, when we had one with no other
symptom suddenly have a full urinary blockage he
was emptied that night by a vet in an emergency
appointment and had curative adrenal surgery the
next day. Without the high hormonal levels being
churned out by the diseased adrenal his prostate
rapidly returned to normal. That is not a
particularly unusual scenario, but clear symptoms
are more common.
On the other hand we have one who we know gets
regular bouts of allergic dermatitis so in his case
when there is fur loss we need to spend the money
(if memory serves about $250, but I could be
misrecalling) for a TN Panel test each time because
we know that he is just plain unusual. In 26 years
with ferrets he is the only one we have had who
does this. The thing about an unusual situation
is that the chances of someone's ferret actually
having something unusual are, well, unusual.
So, while unusual ones happen, if the symptoms are
clear then forget the testing because the chances of
something unusual are rare. In that case it is
usually best for possible adrenal disease to go to
exploratory surgery. The best advice comes
from Dr. Bruce Williams who advised that when you
hear hoof beats think horse before zebra unless you
happen to be in a zoo or in certain parts of Africa.
* For details see past posts and resources such as
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/basics.htm
and for treatments do the same and be sure to read
resources like
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/adrenal.htm
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:ferrethealth-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:ferrethealth-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ferrethealth-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/