adrenal treatment options

[taratee]

I know that surgery is an option but as my ferret is tiny I feel like the risks outweigh the rewards. now having said that i am ready to make a decision about tias adrenal disease as i have found a vet in town who will treat her as i see fit. where does adrenal treatment start i know the options are more or less melatonin des and lupron but where should i start? shes not had any other treatment thus far.

[Deleted]

I can't remember how advanced her adrenal is. What symptoms is she exhibiting? How long has it been going on?

[taratee]

shes been overly angry, itchy and thirsty since we got her which is over a year more like a year and a half and probably her tail and swollen vulva has only been balding the last 6-9 months

[Sherry]

I started Sinnead, Athena, and Zeus directly on lupron. In hindsight, Sinnead had adrenal about a year prior to starting treatment. She's now been on it for two years, and we've had to just recently have a melatonin implant put in. Vet said she'd had better results with the two in conjunction in comparison to increasing the lupron at first.
Boris, I'm going to try with the melatonin first, see if that helps him. We'll be moving from that to lupron at some point.
Many people have had a great deal of success with deslorelin implants, however I cannot seem to get my vet to do all the necessary paperwork to have them shipped in.
I made the decision not to have the surgery done simply because of the high recurrence of adrenal with it.

[joclyn]

definitely do lupron shots asap. melatonin depot can be given at the same time or you can wait a bit to see if the lupron will fix the fur issue and the enlarged vulva (is sometimes does). if it doesn't, help those symptoms, then get the melatonin depot.

that's the recommendation of the 3 vets i see as well as dr wagner in pittsburgh (who does a lot of research on adrenal disease in ferrets) and also dr murray (another big researcher) and various & sundry other vets.

when i was using lupron, only two needed melatonin - the other two got fur benefits with just the lupron.

i've got them all on deslorelin now - with mixed reviews & thoughts of how that's working.

it didn't do as well with keeping and/or increasing weight & muscle mass and sure didn't initially help finola with her fur i'd also given her melatonin after she got the des cuz i wasn't see fur coming in...and the depot didn't make any difference. although, right now, that comment is completely blown away as she's got an absolutely overly-full coat and hasn't had a melatonin implant since last october/november. so, really don't know what's going on there!! two of the boys have gained some decent muscle tone as well...delayed reaction to the des maybe? dunno!

from a 'keeping costs reasonable' standpoint, i'd go with lupron first and wait a couple/three months to see if fur is coming back in with just that medication and also to see if the vulva reduces...if no fur shows and/or the vulva doesn't go back to normal after 3 lupron shots, get the melatonin depot.

you can also do melatonin orally. it's best to give it 7-9 hours after sunrise for optimal results and that can be hard to do unless you work night shift or work out of your home or have the ability to go home for lunch every day. some do give it in the evening or in the morning and see results...if you try that, just make sure to give it at the exact same time every day and that should compensate enough for giving it at a time that's 'off' the optimal.

1 mg of melatonin is the starting dose and most just mix it into some soupies.

[Deleted]

the lupron or deslorelin (which cannot be used together) work in the same way - they both blocking signals to the pituitary. These two drugs have the highest probability of slowing disease progression. The melatonin tends to be less effective against disease progression that the lupon or the deslorelin. But it can be given in combination with either the Des. or the lupron.

I would start with either the Des. or the lupron (Des. will be cheaper tan lupron) as my first choice. But many use melatonin alone. In the long run, adrenal disease is not something that directly kills ferrets very often. Most of the adrenal cancers are very slow growing they don't readily metastasize like some cancers do.

A lot of people treat with melatonin only. (I prefer the melatonin implant over the oral melatonin. The timing of oral administration is impossible for me ) It's very unclear that cancer-related deaths in adrenal ferrets are due to adrenal cancers that have spread.

-jennifer