Adrenal Prevention Questions

[fearless]

Luckily in my years with ferrets, I haven't had to deal with Adrenal but I hear so much about it that I dedicated this morning to researching it. I have a few questions and was wondering if anyone can help me out.

I read...
'In reality, in an ideal world we should probably suppress sex steroid production in neutered ferrets for their entire life - implant available in Australia, the UK, and EU of deslorelin 4.7 mg, or start injections of Lupron at about 4-5 months of age as close to full-grown as possible. This would help, and likely push the development of adrenal disease again to the aged ferret. So far, with over 50 ferrets we are following, this seems to be the case, and some are now 6 yrs of age, with far fewer adrenal-related problems than we'd find in control (non-treated) cohort. It's promising, but still in its infancy'
(Direct quote from www.washingtonferret.org/Lupron_writeup.htm by Dr. Cathy Johnson-Delaney)

is she suggesting at 4-5 months of age we give them monthly Lupron shots, or just once?

I'm sure I'll have more questions once I keep reading.

Someone give me a crash course in Adrenal?

[miamiferret2]

hi there. haven't read the article that you posted yet but please continue to post your research results here! i would love to read them.

my vet did not recommend lupron as a preventive. he told me that lupron has to be given every month to be effective. vet told me that a lupron shot once a year (or even during the first 3 months of the year) will prob not prevent adrenal. although it might help slow it down, decrease the aggressiveness of the tumors. problem is we don't know exactly when the hormone spikes occur in these ferrets. especially if you live closer to the equator (southern u.s.) like i do. there are other factors such as unnatural lighting (we had a big discussion on eco friendly bulbs recently) that will also trigger hormone spikes.


i had our ferret implanted with deslorelin as a preventive when he was 5 months old (this past january). before i implanted him, i spoke with 4 vets about the implant and its use to prevent adrenal disease (or at least stave it off until the ferret is much older). last year my vet discussed several similar articles with me. only one had a much higher test group. there was a vet out in california that has been using des to prevent adrenal for a while and has reported 99.9 % effectiveness in preventing adrenal disease in early neutered/spayed ferrets. sounds a little high to me and at the time i wondered how many ferrets he had as a test group. i forget his name at the moment. i have to ask my vet.
btw, to my understanding they have been using deslorelin as a preventive in neutered/spayed ferrets in europe for much longer than in the united states. so i believe that is where all these veterinary studies /articles about deslorelin and prevention come from.

there are some private ferret breeders on this forum. quite understandably, these breeders are against using deslorelin to prevent adrenal disease. with adrenal disease, there most likely is a genetic component. responsible private breeders feel that by using deslorelin we would be just masking a bad gene that should be bred out of our pet ferrets. i totally agree with their theory as far as their privating breeding practices are concerned. because if i pay top dollar for a ferret from a private breeder and the ferret develops adrenal disease early in its life, i will be calling the private breeder and reporting this to them! the goal is that they will not breed the same pair that produced these adrenal ferrets...i applaud them for their diligence. one in particular requires that the adoptive "ferrents" perform necropsies on her ferrets to determine cause of death etc. and to see whether there are any genetic problems. that is great. i applaud them.

However, most people (like me) own ferrets that have been adopted from shelters or purchased at petstores. in that case, most of the time these ferrets originated from irresponsible commercial breeders. these commercial breeders could care less about preventing adrenal disease and responsible breeding practices. these ferrets have already been dealt this bad card. they are HIGHLY likely (and do) develop adrenal disease sometimes very early in their lives. there is nothing you can do about their bad genes, they are already here and are already predisposed to adrenal disease by genetics and early neutering/spaying. we cannot remove the bad gene at this point.

i decided to implant Sonny, a marshalls ferret, just to see if i can prevent it or even if i can stave it off i'll be happy with that.
i have had ferrets that i have had to put down at old age because of advanced adrenal disease. some of them were otherwise healthy had no other problems and could have continued on for several more years. so it is a frustrating disease. at first, you kind of ignore it because you treat it with medications, implants, etc. but the tumors are always there and continue to grow. then the ferret's body just starts to turn on itself. i don't do adrenal surgeries.

you are very fortunate not to have experienced adrenal disease.

here is a link to this discussion on adrenal prevention:

holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=vetting&thread=954&page=1

[miamiferret2]

good article. thanks for posting it.

[miamiferret2]

another quote from article you posted (interesting!):

Is work being done to find the reasons behind why ferrets have so many tumors? Yes, there is work being done on the ferret's genetics to see if there are tumor suppressor genes missing or malfunctioning, which may eventually be the key to preventing tumors. This work is going to take a number of years, and so far 4 genes have been identified. Work on the control of the genes, and comparisons to ferrets around the world, and the wild polecat ancestor to see if there is a genetic basis is also going on. Ferret's own breeding cycle and reproductive/endocrine system exacerbate the problem. The early neutering just sets up the problem to start earlier, and isn't the whole reason why the problem is seen. Ditto we see this in ferrets around the world, from different sources, and even in some intact ferrets, so blame on specific breeders or suppliers is not appropriate simply because they have more ferrets in the marketplace. We are seeing the disease show up earlier in life, and that likely has a lot to do with the early spay/neuter practice, but ferrets neutered/spayed after puberty or later still develop the disease.

[joan]

I think Dr. Johnson-Delaney used the 4 month Lupron in her study, rather than the monthly, but can't remember for sure. Over the years that I've read about Lupron being used to control adrenal disease, it seemed that the longer lasting one was preferable both for cost and effectiveness.

[Deleted]

Very interesting article!

[fearless]

How much does the Des implant cost you? I'm highly considering following your route and around 5 months of age getting one for each of my ferrets as a preventative. I will be calling my vet soon to schedule an appointment when all of my ferrets are roughly 5-6 months of age to get their first and only vaccines. This will present a great opportunity for me to talk to my vet about getting the Des.

You replace it every year correct?

[Deleted]

I think it varies, but some replace it every 6-9 months. It is costly upfront ($150 and up) from what I've read.

[miamiferret2]

All of the vets that I have spoken to have recommended that I re-implant deslorelin once per year in January. this is how it was explained to me: with ferrets that do not have adrenal tumors, it is recommended to re-implant every 12 months in mid to late winter.
with ferrets that already have adrenal tumors, it varies. some people have to reimplant sooner. depends on how the tumors are. adrenal tumors don't always respond the same.
so, the general consensus among veterinarians that i have asked is that if you are using it to prevent adrenal tumors in a young ferret, you reimplant once a year.
as for the cost of deslorelin, I paid $80 or $90 for the implant. However, my vet does not mark things up that much.
even with the implant, it was still recommended to me that i keep him away from unnatural lighting as much as possible after sundown and to keep his room dim during the day (I live in Florida, the sun is very harsh and bright). one vet told me flat out "keep him in the dark." I think Sonny knows what is good for him since he sleeps in total darkness underneath a nightstand. that is where he made his bed! LOL ;D ;D

[fearless]

Thanks so much for the info! I am definitely going to look into it. I live at high altitude, the sun is much harsher here. I might look into making some kind of 'den' in the FN cage for them, this will help them decide where they want to sleep best.

Luckily my vet also doesn't mark up, no office visit $27 for a vaccine is what they quoted me, so I'm going to call and price the Des implant.

Here is my question...

Jude is almost five months, should I hold out till January and get all my kids done together in January or go when they hit the 4-6 month mark?

[tayrawrrr]

Thanks for bringing this up, Jess. I definitely want to take to the vet about this option of adrenal prevention.

I wonder if ferrets kept in places, such as the PNW, where it is mostly cloudy, have a lower rate of adrenal?? I wonder if anyone has ever looked into that. I'd definitely be interested to know! Just a thought

[miamiferret2]

your vet will have to order the deslorelin from australia (company called peptech).

here is the link on how to order from peptech.

holisticferret60.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=healthinfo&action=display&thread=99

i would get working on your vet now so he can go through the ordering process. because there is a bit of a backlog right now. the implants are on backorder until june or july.
your vet will need to do some procedural things prior to ordering. i.e., they want to make sure that he is a licensed veterinarian and that he will be using this for x reason, etc.
the salesperson will tell your vet what he needs to do to order it. there is no minimum order amount. he will need to submit a copy of his license to them by email, send them something on his letterhead, i forget now.

as for young ferrets that are under 1 year old, when i asked dr. murray (jerry) as to when i should implant, he told me to implant "as soon as possible" when they are young to avoid that first hormone spike. i also asked dr. susan keheller at the broward avian & exotic animal hospital and she said the same thing to implant as soon as possible and to reimplant every 12 months. however, the vet that i normally use decided to wait longer. i trust him and i like him alot. he's the "first do no harm" kind of vet (as they should be). he did not feel the need to implant him before 5 months. so i ended up implanting him when he was 5 almost 6 months old (which coincidentally happened to be towards the middle of january.)
mind you, i am guesstimating Sonny's age as he was born at Marshall farms and that birth certificate that they send you is not accurate. its actually ridiculous that they send those out...
i gauged his age by his canine teeth and the size/appearance of his tail when i brought him home.

ok so to answer your question: i guess i would just implant them at around 5 or 6 months of age.
if you cannot obtain the deslorelin implants, then you can do the lupron in the meantime. as i said, the deslorelin is on backorder.
both drugs do the same thing. but the lupron has to be given every month or every 3-4 months (depending on which lupron depot you get).

[fearless]

Ok so maybe this is what I'm thinking Lupron till January, then get the implant then. I would of course ask my vet to order it in advance in the rare chance that it takes that long to get it. Then I would like to do it every year from there on after, do they remove the old implant or is it absorbed or...?

[miamiferret2]

No the old implants stay in their bodies. It feels like a large grain of rice. Slightly bigger than the Melatonin implant. I've had old ferrets with over 15 implants ( des + Melatonin combined). When they have that many, it feels weird because they are all bunched up in between the shoulders. but they are harmless.

[fearless]

Interesting! Again thanks for all the info it's a lot to think about.