From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2012-02-01 16:21:46 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] No fur regrowth
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
EXCELLENT questions for the poster, Bonnie!
If the adrenal glands came out completely rather than being debulked (and the difference does cause confusion at times) then the ferret WILL require two meds to not die: Fludrocort/Florinef to attain proper electrolyte balance (though some people prefer going with injected Percorten every 3 weeks), and a steroid (often Prednisolone) to maintain proper fluid balance. Those are to replace some essential corticosteroids produced by the adrenal cortex.
BTW, until the electrolytes are balanced and in correct amounts a tiny pinch of salt added to the ferret's food may be needed to supplement the sodium.
Also, a ferret who is on these meds WILL need more to avoid an Addisons Crisis when under physical stress or if much weight has been gained.
If a ferret with this vulnerability gets a GI illness DO use the Percorten rather than Fludrocort because Fludrocort can pass through too rapidly in that situation.
The separate FHL Archives (my sig lines, and links in multiple places on the FHL homepage) have a lot on these topics and here is a separate piece on Addisons:
http://www.miamiferret.org/addisons.htm
If the ferret did not need those meds then a debulking was done and one or both glands may be regrowing. Fragments left behind during surgery (such as tiny ones caught beneath vascular clamps which can take years to grow large enough to cause any symptoms) can regrow over time, too.
Some ferrets who have regrowth with adrenal disease never produce enough of the corticosteroids but once again produce too much of the hormones, so those ferrets wind up needing meds to avoid Addisons AND meds to treat adrenal disease.
We had one who had bilateral adrenal carcinomas removed when she was only 3; but the adrenals came out cleanly at the very start of her illness symptoms. She had lost almost all the fur on her lower half in just weeks and had "that" sickly sweet malignancy smell which I used to be able smell even early in an illness when I was younger so we rushed her into surgery. Her surgery was curative and she was on her Addison's avoidance meds will her death late in her 8th year from a different problem, but it took her something like two or three years till she regrew her fur. Some ferrets regrow the fur right away. Some regrow it at the next shedding cycle, some have a lot of damage to the follicles and never regrow it, but why it took that long and yet regrew on her remains a mystery.
It often is possible speed up regrowth of fur by using melatonin. Melatonin has many functions in the body since it is an extremely old hormone, and there are even function involving the skin and the hair follicles. See:
http://jhc.sagepub.com/content/44/4/377.long
or
http://jhc.sagepub.com/content/44/4/377.full.pdf
On Feb 1, 2012, at 9:55 AM, Bonnie wrote:
> Carol,
> Was there a complete removal of the right gland, or debulking?
> Was histology done on the glands?
> Is the ferret on steroids?
>
> It probably wouldn't hurt to give the Lupron shot, especially this time of year. We have been giving all the ferrets here an annual Lupron shot in January/February for three years now with very good results.
>
> Regards,
> Bonnie
>
>
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
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
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html
"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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