From:
Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2010-01-05 22:11:05 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Re: adrenal: new to the site an need some ferret help
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hi, Sukie, and everyone else,
Great post, for a number of reasons...
On 1/5/10, Sukie Crandall <sukie@mac.com> wrote:
>
> My point was that there can be more than one reason to be aggressive
> if an individual is young. In the first place, a young ferret has
> many more years ahead if treated right, while in the second place some
> malignancies are themselves more aggressive in young individuals so
> aggressive treatment is needed then.
[...]
> When we have a young ferret with a malignancy we hit it hard.
>
> What do we consider "young"? Depending on the individual we
> personally figure that is until the 5th or 6th year.
Thank you! I don't know how many times I've heard people refer to a
five or six year old ferret as "old" or "senior". Maybe that was true
once. Our current vet draws the line at six or seven. She recommends
checkups and blood work every six months starting at age seven. A
decade ago our vet recommended the same but at age six. We've done
adrenal, insulinoma, and combination adrenal/insulinoma surgery on
ferrets at age six or seven on five of the thirteen ferrets I've had
over the years, all successfully. The only bad news we've had is when
lymphoma/lymphosarcoma was also discovered as a result of a lymph node
biopsy done during the surgery. At least once we knew we could start
treatment for that without other health issues to complicate things.
> Now, do we have surgery done on older ferrets? Certainly. Have we had times when the
> health of younger ones was too compromised to consider surgery?
> Certainly.
Great point again. Certainly the risks for surgery increase with age.
Our first vet, who did four of the above mentioned surgeries, made
that point very clear when he did surgery on our older guys. It came
down to weighing the risks against the possible benefits. In two
cases he did send us for second opinions and both he and the vet he
referred us to brought it down to this: do surgery and there are
serious risks but maybe the ferret recovers. Don't do surgery and the
ferret dies, probably quite soon. When given a choice like that it's
pretty easy to choose surgery.
There are things vets can do to reduce the risks of surgery on older
ferrets somewhat, for example using sevoflurane instead of isoflurane
for anesthesia. It's more expensive but I've been repeatedly told it
is a much safer choice when surgery is necessary on an older or
otherwise compromised animal. Not all vets have sevoflurane on hand
so that is something worth asking about if considering surgery on an
older ferret.
>
> It's good to have options, just don't rely on very wimpy ones like
> oral melatonin unless there is no other option.
>
> Yes, ferrets ARE expensive to care for. Their medical care is
> specialized. That is just to be expected, I'm afraid.
Agreed. Ferret owners always have to save for a rainy day. A typical
ferret will have a major medical issue sometime in their life. If you
get proper vet care quickly the results are almost always much, much
better.
Some vets will also make payment arrangements if you're caught in a
pinch. I was severely underemployed when Chin Soon absolutely had to
have surgery. I made five payments and she got the care she needed.
She's six and a half years old and playing like she's a kit again.
Don't tell her she's supposed to be old.
All the best,
Caity and the terrific trio
Ella, Zephyr and Chin Soon
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