Adrenal Disease not Responding to Treatment

[njcrouth]

Hi everybody.

One of my buddies has adrenal disease and he is not responding to treatment.

First of all, he's only 3.  He turned 3 in March.

He's always been an itchy fella'.  Last fall, that very quickly turned into itching himself bald on his sides.  He was also starting to show hind leg weakness.  I took him for an implant.  A month later, no change. 

Took him back to the vet, and I'm pretty sure we tried a second implant.  No change after 4 weeks. 

We did an ultrasound and confirmed the glands were swollen.  Discussed options.  Put the poor boy through a very risky and tricky surgery.  The vet was able to to cauterize a piece of the right adrenal gland.  The left gland was not swollen enough for the vet to see and the right is by the Vena Cava. 

About two weeks after the surgery, he started showing some improvement in his coat and his legs.  It didn't last long though.  We have another appointment schedule for this Wednesday as his legs are back to not working, he's got bald patches on his legs, and he's now urinating frequently and in small amounts.

My heart is just a mess over this.  As I said above, he's only 3 years old.  The poor boy has gotten less active because his legs are just garbage.  He flops all over the place.  He can't even go to the the bathroom properly. 

I know part of the problem is that he's fat, but I don't know how to fix it because he's on raw whole animal grind and I only give him 3.6 oz total a day.  I recently cut it back from 3.8 oz.  I feel like if I give him any less I'm going to be starving him.  My understanding was that males should eat 4-6 oz a day typically.

Has anyone experienced a case like this? What did you do? How did it turn out?

[Corvidophile]

I wish I could give advice on the adrenal disease but I have no experience treating it, it sounds like you’re doing everything possible. But as far as food amount goes, 4-6 ounces would be an estimate for a big young male. He could probably easily do with less. Feel free to try reducing it a bit more. My five year old male only eats 2 oz a day and he’s very slowly gaining weight on that amount. Mine is a little guy though, just two pounds. If there’s one thing I’ve picked up on this forum repeatedly, it’s that the amount of food people’s ferrets eat varies dramatically.

[abbeytheferret6]

I do not know what to tell you either---as I did the DES implant on my girl who was exhibiting the bald spot, the stronger smell, and aggression that they say can be signs of adrenal disease. I never had an ultrasound done to confirm though. Her hair grew back but got worse, first, and my vet said that it will do that. She said a client got mad at her because her ferret did the same, so now she tells them.

However, I do not know anything about what to expect or not expect after the adrenal surgery. Maybe Sherry can give some insight.

Adrenal Operation images
www.lbah.com/ferret-diseases/

Hope your little man gets to doing better.

[unclejoe]

I was not aware of hind end weakness being a sign of adrenal disease. that relates more to insulinoma. 3 yo is kind of young for adrenal, but raw fed should at least delay onset of insulinoma, tho it could have a genetic link. Has his blood glucose been checked?
as far as implants, which one? the suprelorin can be effective in controlling adrenal, but may not show improvement in clinical signs, esp hair regrowth, until the next shedding season. A melatonin implant can help with that but it does not treat the disease. Loss of bladder control and rear legs suggests something neurological. I have had one and heard of others that had tumors on the lower spine. has he had x-rays done? Best wishes that you find the problem

[njcrouth]

Thanks everyone for the input.

We talked about checking his BG but didn't. The last time we checked his BG, it was 130 something and he's alert and has no other signs of insulinoma. He definitely has adrenal disease - we did a biopsy of the tissue the vet took in January. Muscle atrophy can be adrenal, and I think with him being so overweight its exacerbating the situation for him.

We did an X-ray and the vet saw no sign of tumors or slipped disks or anything like that.

His recommendation at this time is to get some weight off of him, which I have reduced his food, and to do some physical therapy with him 3 times a day then check back in a month. He is pretty overweight so maybe that will help some.. Guess we'll see in a month.

Thanks again for your input.