Message Number: YPG738 | New FHL Archives Search
From: "rocknroll_songbird"
Date: 2007-01-05 14:55:20 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Ferretonin/Melatonin
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com

I'm so sorry to hear you're going through this, adrenal disease is
tough stuff. My Blitzen, who was a male about age 5, started getting
symptoms in May of '05. I don't have personal experience with the
implants, but info can be found here:
http://miamiferret.org/fhc/melatonin.htm
and more info on adrenal disease can be found here:
http://www.ferretcentral.org/faq/med/adrenal.html

In late July, we put Blitzen on 1 or 2mg of melatonin capsules, which
we'd powder with a pill smasher and mix into some of that ferret oil
(8-in-1's "FerreTone") and syringe feed to him everyday (I suppose
mixing it into a spoon of Gerber Chicken would work well also), 7
hours after sunrise. The time of day it's given is VERY important; it
must be 7-9 hours after sunrise to mimic when the body would naturally
release the melatonin. For this reason, melatonin implants are often
better in case you can't get the dosage on time. After about 2 weeks
his symptoms subsided pretty well, he even gained weight and regrew
fur after a while.

Melatonin is not a cure for adrenal disease; it simply helps the
symptoms. It's often given in combination with Lupron injections and
this works well in many people's experiences.

I don't want to scare you, but with any case of adrenal disease in a
male ferret, no matter what form of treatment is being pursued, I
cannot stress enough the importance of checking regularly that the
ferret's prostate does not become enlarged, it leads to many
complications and discomfort, such as inability to urinate and kidney
failure. This happened to Blitzen.

I hope my advice was helpful and wish you and your baby a smooth
recovery process and many months of happiness.
~Emily and the carpet sharks


--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, "kmpetronis" <petrkm03@...> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
> I was just wondering if anyone had experience with treating
adrenal
> gland disease with melatonin and/or the implants (Ferretonin)? Did
it
> work? Are the implants expensive? I strongly believe my ferret has
> AD and I cannot afford surgery.
>
> [Moderator's Notes:
> You will also find info on AAE (AD means Aleutian Disease.) and
these treatments as well as on Lupron Depot and on deslorelin in the
FHL Archives:
> http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
> and Miamiferret:
> http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/ ]
>





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