From:
Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2010-02-07 01:23:27 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Medication after second adrenal surgery, Addisonian Crisis
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
A couple of responses to your notes on surgically induced Addison's Disease:
The usual medications, at least with the vets who have treated my
ferrets, are pediapred and florinef. Prednisolone and pediapred are
the same thing: generic and brand name if I'm not mistaken. The same
is true for florinef and fludrocort. While the other uses of these
medications that you listed are all correct the primary purpose of
these medications after a complete bilateral adrenalectomy is to
replace adrenal products and keep electrolytes in balance.
The problem is that every ferret responds differently so a standard
starting dosage that works perfectly well for a ferret of a given
weight may be completely wrong for a different ferret of the same
weight. Getting the dosages right so that electrolytes are in balance
is pretty much educated guesswork and trial and error. While
electrolytes are out of balance your ferret will be miserable. You'll
know when the dosage is at least nearly right: the ferret will start
behaving like their old self again.
The only time dexamethasone was used rather that pediapred for one of
my ferrets was when we discovered that Pertwee was completely
non-responsive to prediapred. Unfortunately the way we discovered
that was through increasingly out of balance electrolytes no matter
what was done with the dosages. The result was an Addisonian Crisis.
Dexamethasone is what was used to pull him through and what was used
for the rest of his life. I've never heard of a vet using
dexamethasone routinely after adrenal surgery. A ferret who doesn't
respond to prednisone or prednisolone/pediapred is rare.
You can't miss an Addisonian Crisis or mistake it for anything else.
It is absolutely the most frightening thing you can ever see as a
ferret owner. Collapse is complete, as in completely non-responsive.
It looks like your ferret is about to die, which is, in fact, pretty
much the case. At that point immediate emergency vet care is vital.
Keep the ferret warm and get them to the vet ASAP. Make sure you have
emergency arrangements for nights and weekends. The good news is that
electrolytes have to get and stay way out of balance for this to
happen. In most cases a knowledgeable vet and ferret owner can avoid
things getting to a Crisis. This is truly a worst case scenario but
it never hurts to be prepared.
Don't let this scare you off if your vet decides that another surgery
is Isis' best option at this point. Pertwee did make a full recovery
and lived for another four years once his electrolytes were in
balance. Despite other serious health issues he was still the
craziest, wildest, most playful ferret I've ever had for most of that
time.
Please also note that I am most decidedly NOT advocating surgery. What
I am advocating is having you and your vet making an informed decision
about what is best for Isis.
The usual disclaimer applies: I am not a vet.
Good luck, whatever you and your vet decide is best.
Caity and the terrific trio
(Ella, Zephyr and Chin SOon)
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