Conference asd::ferrets

    It sounds like Gumby has pretty classic symptoms.  I have
    two post adrenal boys, Rommel and Prince.  Prince recovered
    quickly from his surgery and is doing fine.  Rommel took 
    longer to recover, and is now dealing with bi-lateral
    adrenal disease.  This only happens to about 12% of the
    ferrets though.
    
    The only way to be 100% sure of a diagnosis is to do
    the Tennessee blood panel, which costs about $175
    and is only done the third week of each month at the
    University of Tennessee.  Most people choose to make
    a visual diagnosis based on symptoms and do exploratory
    surgery.  It is important for your vet not to come out
    empty-handed.  When both glands look identical, take the
    right and have it biopsied.  The left is more difficult
    to remove since it is closer to the vena cava.  Adrenal
    disease is very common in ferrets 3.5 years and up.
    Gumby should recover quickly and you should see hair
    regrowth in 4-6 weeks.  Longer than that and you should
    keep an eye out for symptoms to reappear in 8-10 months.
    
    There is a very good FAQ on adrenal disease out on the WWW.
    http://www.optics.rochester.edu:8080/users/pgreene/faq/med/adrenal.html
    It should tell you everything you need to know.
    
    Mary-Michael
    

    
    	Maybe someone can give me some direction on my situation.  Carson
    	is a 5 year old male (he will be 6 in November).  He started to
    	lose hair on his tail about three months ago (he did not lose all
    	of his hair but it is sparse.  Since then, it has been slowly going 
    	back.  I have looked up alot on the WEB about Adrenal tumors and
    	ferrets facts in general and I realize that tail hair loss doesn't 
    	always mean adreanal tumors.  However, I don't want to wait to
    	see if the hair loss continues but I don't want to put him through
    	unecessary surgery.  Also, from what I have read, the test (Ten 
    	panel test) is not recommended for most cases.  Can anyone give
    	me advice on this.  Also, can anyone recommend some doctors that
    	are knowledgeable on this subject and who have performed this 
    	type of surgery?  I live in the Worcester/Leominster area.
    
    	Thanks in advance,
    
    
    	Kelly   

    .1  - Thank you for the info.
    
    I did a wed search on ferret pathology and found some great topics on
    adrenal tumors AAE.  I would recommend this to all.  They had pictures
    of the glands, both normal and infected.
    
    Gumby is having surgery on Thursday.
    
    Kelly
    

    Gumby had surgery 10 days ago, and her adrenal glands were fine.  She
    does have a hormone inbalance, but we do not know why.  It is a
    guessing game from here.  We're going to try a couple of meds on her
    and see if we can balance her out.  
    
    Kelly
    

    Our "second" ferret, Frank, who was adopted from a local ferret shelter
    started to show the classic signs of adrenal disease over several
    months. We took him to a good vet and the vet agreed that he would have
    to perform surgery. Frank had the surgery but the vet says  that he
    suspects bilateral adrenal disease and that 8-12 weeks would tell the
    tale as to whether he would have to on some medication to control the
    remaining adrenal gland. I guess ol' Frank is in a real minority since
    the odds of a male ferret getting this is much less than female
    ferrets, as well as the odds of bilateral versus unilateral disease being
    much smaller as well. My kids are crushed and I guess we will just have to
    wait and see what happens.
            

    Gumby seems to be improving, with no meds.
    
    Thank god.
    
    Kelly

Kelly,

Glad that gumby is doing better. Having a sick pet can be a worring thing
to endure.

	-Stephanie

    Thank you Stephanie.  She's my baby, our baby actually (my son, the
    dog, the cat and I) and we just don't know what we'd without her to
    make us laugh.
    
    Kelly