From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2009-05-31 19:28:08 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: suprelorin and adrenal question
To: fhl <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
I will be glad when the ferret implant of Suprelorin (deslorelin) is
approved in the U.S. It lasts longer than Lupron, and from what I
have read the results are more reliable so no wondering if a high
enough dose has been given. How long it lasts does vary a lot among
ferrets. Currently we usually prefer surgery to Lupron with certain
exceptions (and do have one on Lupron now), but with deslorelin that
could be an option which may wind up being better for many.
The surgery has nothing to do with the other gland also having a
problem sometimes. That is simply because both are responding to the
same hormonal trigger. Now, could Lupron depots, or deslorelin
implants, or melatonin implants PREVENT any start of neoplasia or
hyperplasia (new growth or over growth) from becoming bad enough to
cause adrenal disease? Well, that is certainly possible and may even
be likely. The injections now under study to prevent the hormonal
trigger at an even early point (GnRH antagonists) may be even better
ultimately. Studies will tell.
The vast majority of the third of our ferrets who had adrenal disease
have NOT had a second adrenal involved at any point.
That is over a space of about 28 years with ferrets, though I do agree
that decades ago there were far fewer ferrets here who had adrenal
growths or insulinoma or both. When they happened they were almost
never before the age of 5 or 6 years or older, either. Things changed
in recent decades. Two possibilities for that are the rampant
breeding for fancy appearances and the large number of equipment
lights (especially blue and green ones) which cut way down on
melatonin production by the body.
As to vaccines. In the U.S. two titer studies are going on to look at
the behavior of canine distemper vaccines in ferrets. This will tell
multiple things, not all will be known for sure until challange
studies also exist. They will help know how long most ferrets can go
between vaccines, help know how much variability there may be among
vaccines, help know how much variability there may be among ferrets,
help know if any of the pre-medication approaches might affect
immunity, and more. One of the studies is open for participation by
people in the U.S. and their vets. People can read about that here:
http://www.ferret.org/news/07-april-titer_study.html
Be SURE that the history data sheet is mailed directly to Dr. Heller
at the address on the sheet that is directly below
"Mongo Memorial Distemper Titer Study
History Data Sheet"
Cornell does NOT forward the sheets to her so that is essential. The
vaccine history, especially for the last vaccine, is also absolutely
critical because without that info the results are meaningless for the
study.
Tip: make a photocopy of that sheet. Then if you do the titers in
future years you can enclose photocopies and just add the new data to
new sheets, then staple them together to provide info over time for
some individuals.
We found that the results varied quite a bit in our current 6 family
ferrets.
Our oldest is someone who has been through some serious health
challenges due to genetics but had a titer of almost 200 after about
two and a half years.
Our next oldest is currently dealing with an inoperable apocrine
growth and after the same length of time between canine distemper
vaccines her titer result was almost 400.
The third oldest is early elderly but with some genetic health
problems and had gone almost 4 years between vaccinations but her
titer results were in the upper 700s. (I think that she missed the
ones done 2 and a half years ago due to removal of a cystine urolith.)
Then we get to one of ours who is in the prime of life. He is just 4
years old and has never been ill, though he tends to be a garbage
belly who regularly gives himself runs by eating things he should not
eat. After two and half years his titer was in only 32! Yes, he got
revaccinated this year with a number like that! He was vaccinated
from the same batch, at the same time, with the same prep as 3 other
ferrets, but the numbers for those four individuals varied widely.
The next one is also in the prime of life and also vaccinated 11/18/06
from the same batch as most of them (though I notice that I accidently
left the date off the data sheet so have to tell Dr. Heller, but the
serial number of the Galaxy vaccine batch used that day -- with
Purevax being used sometimes on our ferrets when it can be gotten and
Galaxy used otherwise -- is the same as for all the ferrets vaccinated
that day). Her titer was in the upper 700s (actually, it is the same
number as the other ferret with such a high reading).
Finally, there is our healthy and robust privately bred 1 year old.
Her reading after 10 months was in the mid 200s.
I am not giving more precise data because i consider that to belong to
the study, but i do want to illustrate that *IF* our ferret family is
representative that the amount of immunity when going years between
vaccinations can vary quite a bit so be careful to NOT let it get TOO
low.
Rather than just stop vaccinations I recommend doing titers. Canine
Distemper is a terrible disease.
As far as I know there are no rabies vaccines that have been tested
for more than a year's effectiveness in ferrets.
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/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
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/