From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2009-07-13 23:14:23 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Treatment for adrenal ferret
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
I think that people get the basics down BUT
how the products of the endocrine system
work with each other can easily cause confusion.
Heck, it's about as complex as things get and
aspects of endocrinology are just now being able
to be better understood so to some extent it
confuses everyone even when that is just from
how little some aspects are studied so far. Hence,
people each saying parts of the total picture but
having the jigsaw pieces misplaced or missing,
and other people trying to find any easy answer
no matter how disproven and sometimes sticking
to those, anyway.
HIGHLY recommended:
http://www.smallanimalchannel.com/ferrets/ferret-health/endocrine-system.aspx
second page:
http://www.smallanimalchannel.com/ferrets/ferret-health/endocrine-system-2.aspx
IF YOU READ ANYTHING READ THOSE TWO PAGES!
You will find an up to date and excellent simplification
that is easy to read, and it is by a ferret vet who has
done endocrinological research.
Personally, Steve and i do NOT look at the possible
ways to treat as being either-or, or as in some
contest against each other. Instead we see them as
OPTIONS. We select the mode of treatment to suit the
needs of the individual and the specifics of each case.
Usually we personally go with surgery on ones who are
below 7 or 8 years of age and have encountered
wonderful results from that, but we do not exclusively
use surgery and certainly have used Lupron when that
is the better choice, as it currently is for one of our
older ferrets. Nothing in life is perfect and all ferrets
are different, cases differ, and surgeons vary widely in
their skills. Adrenal disease treatment is NOT "one size fits all".
As to cost, the Lupron depot and melatonin implant
alternative (or in some other countries deslorelin
implant and melatonin implant) can be cheaper if the
vet sees enough ferrets to handle the med in high
quantities and to prep it at the hospital, but Lupron is
more expensive otherwise.
We also like using Lupron for a diagnostic aid to see
if the ferret responds properly to it when a case is
unclear, and we use TN Panels for that. Although
we've used ultrasound we have encountered two
false positive results that way.
I am not sure where the "false positive" rumor about
the TN Panel comes from. It is NOT prone to having
false positives, but if the disease is every early it may
produce a false negative. Yet, I do hear that rumor often.
Most adrenal disease is not malignant (not cancer) but
the results of not treating it so undermine quality of life
and even quantity of life that failure to treat it is cruel,
I'm afraid, so embrace that there are options. When
carcinoma or lymphoma are there it is malignant.
Teratomas (very rare) can be either benign or malignant.
Usually it is benign hyperplasia as a tumor that affects
an adrenal gland.
So far I have NOT read of pituitary disease as a cause
of adrenal disease and it HAS been looked for. The most
recent is probably this one and check the bibliography if
you search out the full article or use PubMed.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15053928
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