Koda and Adrenal

[katt]

I will post more details later. I just got done writing a whole big email about it and am burnt. lol But Koda has lately started seriously shedding and I am very concerned. He already blew his coat and had grown in a nice soft summer coat. Well then he started itching a LOT - ok, well adrenal, still waiting on Lupron to kick in...nothing to be worried about. Well about a week or so after the Lupron (so last week) he started to shed. Majorly. I am finding fur EVERYWHERE. When I pet him I come away with tons of downy undercoat on my hands. It reminds me of when my Aunt's husky sheds! There is fur ALL over the cage and my clothes. The last couple of days he has really started to look scraggly. He is not looking naked yet *knocks on wood* but looks thin, scraggly, patchy, and feels wiry instead of soft.

I figure maybe this would have happened anyways but the shot is not kicking in yet (has been 2 weeks to the day) and it will stop in a week or so? Or the shot is not working period. I do not want my soft, shiny, lustrous coated baby to go bald! Still no news on the des, I need to call them back I guess. Can you do Melatonin and Des implants together? What about melatonin implants and Lupron shots? If Lupron and Des are simply masking the symptoms, then can't I just give melatonin - why exactly are Des/Lupron better?

Also I want to find out about the EXACT Biological mechanisms both of the disease and the treatments. Does anyone know of some good sources? The Bio nerd in me is calling.... Besides it will be way more interesting and useful than learning about whatever we are learning in BioChem! hahaha ;D

[miamiferret2]

Yes you can use melatonin + deslorelin or lupron. Melatonin is something that the body produces naturally. Most ferret vets I've spoken to say that when a ferret has adrenal tumors the best thing to do is attack it with melatonin + either des or lupron. As a preventive measure I was told my my vet that I should only use one of the 3 but hesaid it is not certain whether melatonin will prevent adrenal. He does not think that it does bc it doesn't block something. Forgot what he said. Something about the pituitary gland sending a signal to x and producing gnrh or something. Whatever. All I know is that I hate adrenal disease bc pretty much every ferret I've had for the past 20 years has had it. I just lost one of my favorite ferrets to advanced adrenal -after 3 years of using all 3 medications, I ran out of options
Give the lupron about 3 weeks. However, response time seems to vary among ferrets. With one ferret, I did not see results until a few weeks after the 2nd dose (monthly lupron). That is when i began to see hair start to grow back. With another, he calmed down after a few weeks. Remember he still has those increased hormone levels in his system (he possibly had very high levels of one or all 3- I forget but I know that the Tennessee panel checks 3 different hormone levels as indicators of adrenal). So the hormone level won't go down over night.

[Deleted]

Katt - I'm assuming you have access to a science library and science journals. Look up all the studies by Wagner et al on deslorelin. You should find a lot of useful knowledge in those. I did

[Sherry]

It sometimes takes a second shot to "kick in" Katt. It did with Sinnead. But once it started working- it was a miracle drug for her

[Deleted]

Quick note (been working WAY TOO MUCH thee days )...
Initial lupron or Deslorelin treatments can actually WORSEN symptoms initially.

Koda IS responding to the treatment with a hormonal surge that will mot likely taper off quiesce the hormonal activity. This is why giving only a single, 30-lupron shot and not continuing for at least 3 months is typically WORSE than not treating at all.

-jennifer

[miamiferret2]

I totally forgot about the initial hormone surge! it supposedly lasts about 2 weeks then the hormone levels start to come down

[katt]

Thanks for the info guys.