From:
"Amanda"
Date: 2008-08-04 16:38:35 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] ferret with very large prostate
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
My 4 1/2 year old ferret Boomer has a very large prostate. He had
his right adrenal gland out in March 2007, and this left gland out
in February 2008. It is believed that he still has adrenal tissue
somewhere in his body that we will never find. (Both biopsies on his
right and left gland came back benign and showed they removed the
entire mass)
He was on lupron and seems to have stopped responding. He had an
injection on July 15, 2007- 5 weeks and 4 days after his last
successful one, and by July 18th his prostate felt large and he was
straining to pee. I called the vet and they said to watch him over
the weekend and gave me an appointment for Monday July 21st. We
went in on the 21st and they vet said his prostate was enlarged, but
no more than it has been in the past. She decided the lupron may
not be working, as it should show signs of improvement in 3 days,
and at this point we were on day 6...so she decided to put him on
Flutamide to bring the swelling down.
He still seemed to be having issues, and on Thursday July 31, he was
making pushing noises trying to poop, and still smaller pee spots.
I dropped him off at the vets for the day and got a call around noon-
the vet said his prostate had almost doubled in size over the last
10 days. She said the Flutamide must not be working, so we will try
him on propecia, and also put him on Baytril as he had a greenish
discharge coming from his penis.
He is still making pushing noises to poop, but he is pooping. He
will make a good sized pee when I first wake him up, but then keeps
trying to go back to the corner and makes smaller and smaller
spots. He still has the discharge- and the past 2 mornings, he has
vomited. I think it may be from an upset stomach from the meds, but
it is like 10-12 hours after he has his medication, and I am only
seeing him do this in the morning. (He is not eating or drinking on
his own, I made the mistake of giving him baby food and carnivore
care every few hours when he started this peeing issue to ensure he
was getting enough fluids in his body, and so he stopped eating and
drinking on his own- I can only assume because he knows I have
something better coming to him. When I give him the carnivore care
of baby food, he is very interested and eats it all up.)
Are there side effects of either the propecia or the Baytril that
will cause them to vomit? I hate it because he gets so scared when
he is going to throw up.
He does have cluid filled cysts on his prostate, but is not a
surgical candidate for marsupulization surgery as he has many of
these cysts, and the vet said you cannot do this technique for as
many as he has. [Vet information removed per FHL rules.]
Does anyone have any other suggestions? My vet feels the lupron is
no longer working, so doesn't want to do the injections anymore, and
I asked about melatonin, but she said that will only cause the hair
to grow back- which he has grown all of his hair back after being
almost completely bald. I thought melatonin helped to shrink the
size of the prostate as well?
I have spent upwards of $7,500 on this little guy in the last 2
years, and can't afford much more for him- but I don't want to give
up on him. He and his brother mean the world to me. I am scared
and nervous and could use some help/input.
Thank you.
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