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Post by kd on Feb 28, 2012 14:48:43 GMT -5
Hello fellow members! I'll go into details below, but my main question is, is adrenal disease painful, and in what ways is it so? How can I minimize discomfort? I realize it can cause urinary problems, I assume that can hurt pretty bad. My furtube, Munster, was diagnosed with Adrenal disease about a month ago. Sadly I saw signs and symptoms a while before that, including hair loss in the tail and lethargy. We initially did a blood panel, and that rulled out insulinoma, and then my vet said the hairloss in his tail was probably due to the change in season. I had already expected he had adrenal disease, and I finally brought him into the vet again when he was mounting my female ferret. At the time I thought my only options were monthly shots or surgery which were both expensive options. Then my vet told me about the deslorelin implant, and we did that the same day he was diagnosed. It has been one month, and I have not really seen any signs of improvement, in fact I'm certain his hair loss is even worse. I called my vet and she said to give it two more weeks, but she also informed me that not all ferrets take to the implant (crap!). Not sure what I am going to do if it doesn't work. But I don't want him to suffer, and it breaks my heart looking at him, because I'm constantly reminded that he's sick.  |
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Post by miamiferret2 on Feb 28, 2012 15:21:47 GMT -5
I'm sorry that your baby is going through this. how old is he? the deslorelin implant takes about 6 weeks to start kicking in. during the first few weeks you see a surge in hormones (so it actually does the reverse of what it is supposed to do). so you may see some more hairloss, some increased aggression, etc.
I don't think that he is "suffering" or in "pain"
adrenal DOES cause prostate/urinary issues in males. it also causes gastrointestinal issues such as ulcers, Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD), and in advanced cases, muscle deterioration.
but you have not described signs of these.
does he eat? does he grind his teeth? does he have tarry black poops?
let the implant do what it is supposed to do. if he is eating, and walking around, playing, etc. let him be. keep an eye out for teeth grinding, black poops, diarrhea.
give him melatonin orally every day. do this about 7 hours after sunrise. you can give minimum dose of 1 mg. max dose is 3 mg per day.
OR ask the vet for a melatonin implant from Melatek. it must be done every 4 months. the implant is used along with deslorelin. the melatonin relieves the adrenal symptoms faster.
I have had many adrenal ferrets. they can live a LONG time with adrenal disease as long as they are treated for it! it sucks yes. but it is certainly not a death sentence.
my Lemmy was a marshall farms ferret. he started showing signs of adrenal disease at around age 3 and 1/2. we treated him with oral melatonin until about age 5 and that is when we started him on lupron + melatonin. then moved on to deslorelin + melatonin. he lived to be over 8 years old.
keep us posted.
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Post by bitbyter on Feb 28, 2012 15:41:46 GMT -5
Just curious but how do you determine if a ferret is grinding their teeth?
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Post by kd on Feb 28, 2012 15:56:20 GMT -5
Thank you miamiferret2!!! Sometimes pet owners can be a million times more insightful than vets. You've put my anxious mind at rest for now, thank you!! Munster is about 3 (I'm unsure, since I adopted him off a classified ad, they said he was about 1 a the time) He seems a bit tired, but he eats, and plays, and his poop seems fine. Also, I have the same question, how do you determine if a ferret is grinding their teeth? I've seen something like that, but I'm not sure if that's what it is... It's kind of like a sucking noise? I can't explain. Do you have a video by chance? I'll give it a few more weeks and see what happens!  |
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Post by Sherry on Feb 28, 2012 16:28:36 GMT -5
For the tooth grinding, you can see, and usually hear it. It really is unmistakeable. It does sound like teeth grinding and chewing.
My 4 adrenals. Sinnead started lupron at about 5 years of age. She passed at just about 8. Zeus has been treated for adrenal for almost 3 years. We thought we were losing him a week ago, but
Pred has given him new life again(he's likely become malignant). Athena for 3 years, though I now wonder if she ever truly was!
And Boris who has started lupron a couple months ago.
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Post by miamiferret2 on Feb 28, 2012 17:07:53 GMT -5
Just curious but how do you determine if a ferret is grinding their teeth? to me it sounds like they are making a sandpapery grinding sound with their mouths. take a piece of thick paper and scrape your finger against the edge so that it makes a scraping sound. that's kind of what it sounds like. they usually squint their eyes and stand over their food bowl for a long time just grinding their teeth in between bites of food. they do that if they have stomach pain and/or nausea. |
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Post by Heather on Feb 28, 2012 17:08:47 GMT -5
I don't think that adrenal itself is a painful disease, it's all the side-effects that come from the progression of the disease. Give the DES some time. It doesn't work right away. My wee girlies are on their third implant (just got it today) When they first got their implant, like you they didn't respond in a manner that I would call positive. Sprite responded about 6 weeks into the implant, but until that point she just slept and barely ate at all. Lady "B"....I was sure I was loosing her...she looked horrible. After the implant all her fur fell out and what was left was orange/yellow. She stank like burned fur (adrenal or like a unaltered hob  ). I was broken-hearted. About 8 weeks into it...she developed what looked like horrible bruising all over her back and hips (she's a DEW). In about 2 weeks it became apparent that it was her new coat coming in. She now carries a beautiful white coat (it's yellow right now, she needed this implant). She is her usual nasty self and I'm so happy for her. It took almost 3 months (half way through the implant) for me to see some real positive effects. Captain Jack who was another fuzz who received an implant, responded almost immediately...he stopped being sexually aggressive. His mounting behaviour stopped within weeks, with his new coat coming in about 4 or 5 weeks into it. All ferrets respond differently, sometimes it's just a matter of time. Sherry's right you can usually hear the grinding, if you watch them closely you will see them do it too. I find if I'm snuggling a particular sickie who might be prone to GI issues, I will sit quietly and run my index finger along their jaw...if they're grinding their teeth you will feel it. It's unmistakeable. Love him, it's all he asks of you. I've had a number of fuzzes who have lead long lives despite the disease. For some it's a horrible trip but for the most part, I've found if you keep your eyes open and treat the symptoms as they appear (DES for my guys has been awesome) your wee one should continue to have a long and productive life. Good luck, I hope that you start to see some improvement soon ciao |
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Post by kd on Feb 28, 2012 19:09:04 GMT -5
I just got back from the grocery store, they don't have any liquid melatonin. Are they any good ones, on like... Amazon that I can buy? And how many ml? Healther, Sherry, and miamiferret2 thanks so much for the comprehensive replies! It really helps put me at rest. By how you described teeth grinding, I don't think Munster is doing that, but I'll keep an eye out. He really seems okay other than looking sick from his lack of hair, a bit of a swollen urethra, and being active for short amounts of time. I'll keep an eye out, I trust you guys more than my vet, haha!! Although she's a good vet, she doesn't seem to have the experience of all of you guys combined.  |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2012 19:49:19 GMT -5
You can use the pill form just crush and mix with soup. Up to 3 mg can be used.
Sent from my SCH-M828C using ProBoards
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2012 21:36:59 GMT -5
melatonin pills have no flavor - I chewed one up to taste it - just flour like texture - things I do for my furbabies  |
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Post by miamiferret2 on Feb 28, 2012 21:40:01 GMT -5
I always used the pills. They dissolve easily.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 28, 2012 23:00:13 GMT -5
I feel dumb I never thought to just dissolve them. I just crushed them in a baggie and probably made my neighbors mad. Lmao
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Post by kd on Feb 29, 2012 2:05:47 GMT -5
I also saw some flavored ones, like cherry or whatever, wonder if furtubes would eat that. Also, dissolve those in ferretone = AWESOME.
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Post by Heather on Feb 29, 2012 2:23:15 GMT -5
My guys don't mind fruit flavoured when it's berry flavours, they hate citrus
ciao
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Post by miamiferret2 on Feb 29, 2012 9:06:21 GMT -5
I would not use the flavored ones.
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