Post by Deleted on Oct 1, 2014 16:55:52 GMT -5
Update 3: I can't be 100% sure yet.... but I THINK he's FINALLY regrowing his fur! 
His bald tummy patches seem to have a very fine coating peach fuzz. It's only the beginning of the growth, but I'm so excited I really hope the progress continues. I almost didn't even realize what I was seeing! He's also FINALLY shaken himself out of his week of lethargy and is racing around chasing Twiggy (cat) like a boss. I'm so relieved I was stressing out about him all week trying to figure out if I can find a way to pay for more tests and stuff for him, but if this keeps up it won't be necessary - at least not right now.
Update 2: Rolo still seems to be very sleepy and lethargic. I thought he might be reacting to the upped dose of lupron, since he's he's been affected by the last injections, but I thought by now he'd be back to normal again. And, he has lost SO much hair. At this point my vet wants to do some additional tests to find out if there's anything else wrong with him, but I really can't afford it. I have to start paying back student loans next month.
I dunno at this point I'm thinking we can give him the DES implant and hope it works, because I think the line of thinking that if he's got something else wrong with him, its in addition to adrenal, so we might as well continue to treat that right?
I'm also concerned that even if I spend money to find out what is wrong with him, that I won't be able to afford the cost to try and fix it anyways. I just really hate this, he seemed to be doing so much better last month and now its like he's going downhill again.
Update: Couple days after his last lupron now, he's lost a LOT of fur in the past few days. Is this normal? I'm really worried about the rapid hair loss - the rate of it falling out had slowed but now he has entire bald patches and his fur is really terrible quality all over. I'm just wondering if the fur is so damaged at this point that its just falling out and he has to regrow new healthy fur? When will I start to see the fur regrow? I realize its not going to be the same for every ferret but I'm sure there's got to be an average time frame.
Thought I'd post a quick update on how Rolo's been doing. Essentially, we're seeing positive results with Lupron so far, but the vet is still not fully satisfied and doesn't quite want to call it yet on deciding whether or not we can switch to DES or not. Basically we'll see her again in 2-3weeks and decide if we're going to continue lupron a bit longer or make the switch.
So anyway, good things that have happened: Rolo energy levels are up dramatically - he wants to play all the time which is great, and he has put on weight which is awesome. The vet is very happy with this, but his hair loss is still continuing and becoming significantly more pronounced. She was hoping, not for hair growth necessarily, but to see the hair loss be stalled and not continue to get worse like this.
Anyway, this was his 3rd lupron and we upped the dosage this month to see if it makes a difference, and it will also help us determine the dosage amounts of the implant and whether or not we think it will be effective.
This clinic stocks the implant and uses them very regularly, and I was told they have lots of ferrets who do well on them, so that is our goal to get him on them. As for the melatonin implant which some of you mentioned, I did bring it up to the vet and she was leery about them because they don't really use them at their practice. However, she said she was willing to do some research and get back to me on the potential for using it, and that if she can find decent clinical trials or studies to justify its use alongside DES she would order it for me.
Anyway, I thought I should just do an update for you guys
Rolo is currently passed out as he's always super lethargic and sleepy after the injection, and this one was stronger than usual too poor baby.
His bald tummy patches seem to have a very fine coating peach fuzz. It's only the beginning of the growth, but I'm so excited I really hope the progress continues. I almost didn't even realize what I was seeing! He's also FINALLY shaken himself out of his week of lethargy and is racing around chasing Twiggy (cat) like a boss. I'm so relieved I was stressing out about him all week trying to figure out if I can find a way to pay for more tests and stuff for him, but if this keeps up it won't be necessary - at least not right now.Update 2: Rolo still seems to be very sleepy and lethargic. I thought he might be reacting to the upped dose of lupron, since he's he's been affected by the last injections, but I thought by now he'd be back to normal again. And, he has lost SO much hair. At this point my vet wants to do some additional tests to find out if there's anything else wrong with him, but I really can't afford it. I have to start paying back student loans next month.
I dunno at this point I'm thinking we can give him the DES implant and hope it works, because I think the line of thinking that if he's got something else wrong with him, its in addition to adrenal, so we might as well continue to treat that right?
I'm also concerned that even if I spend money to find out what is wrong with him, that I won't be able to afford the cost to try and fix it anyways. I just really hate this, he seemed to be doing so much better last month and now its like he's going downhill again.
Update: Couple days after his last lupron now, he's lost a LOT of fur in the past few days. Is this normal? I'm really worried about the rapid hair loss - the rate of it falling out had slowed but now he has entire bald patches and his fur is really terrible quality all over. I'm just wondering if the fur is so damaged at this point that its just falling out and he has to regrow new healthy fur? When will I start to see the fur regrow? I realize its not going to be the same for every ferret but I'm sure there's got to be an average time frame.
Thought I'd post a quick update on how Rolo's been doing. Essentially, we're seeing positive results with Lupron so far, but the vet is still not fully satisfied and doesn't quite want to call it yet on deciding whether or not we can switch to DES or not. Basically we'll see her again in 2-3weeks and decide if we're going to continue lupron a bit longer or make the switch.
So anyway, good things that have happened: Rolo energy levels are up dramatically - he wants to play all the time which is great, and he has put on weight which is awesome. The vet is very happy with this, but his hair loss is still continuing and becoming significantly more pronounced. She was hoping, not for hair growth necessarily, but to see the hair loss be stalled and not continue to get worse like this.
Anyway, this was his 3rd lupron and we upped the dosage this month to see if it makes a difference, and it will also help us determine the dosage amounts of the implant and whether or not we think it will be effective.
This clinic stocks the implant and uses them very regularly, and I was told they have lots of ferrets who do well on them, so that is our goal to get him on them. As for the melatonin implant which some of you mentioned, I did bring it up to the vet and she was leery about them because they don't really use them at their practice. However, she said she was willing to do some research and get back to me on the potential for using it, and that if she can find decent clinical trials or studies to justify its use alongside DES she would order it for me.
Anyway, I thought I should just do an update for you guys
Rolo is currently passed out as he's always super lethargic and sleepy after the injection, and this one was stronger than usual too poor baby.
