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Post by jojodancer on Apr 25, 2008 13:25:16 GMT -5
Tomorrow I'm taking my 6 year old male adrenal ferret to the vet. I am fostering him from the local shelter, and they gave him a melatonin implant last year. Obviously, it is wearing off.
I know the standard treatments are surgery, lupron, or melatonin, but I wonder if there is a more natural way of dealing with it. Saw Palmetto? Cranberries? Does anyone have any experience with it?
Either way, I'll let you all know what happens; he is a holistic vet.
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Post by Forum Administrator on Apr 26, 2008 7:24:11 GMT -5
There was an excellent post about this on the yahoo! Group Natural Ferrets. Are you a member there as well? I dont know if you can access the link below if you are not a member, but its a good thread. Why not join if you havent already and check out the link below pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalFerrets/message/13829
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Post by jojodancer on Apr 28, 2008 8:02:26 GMT -5
I am a member of Natural Ferrets. I had sent an email to Debi S of FLFR to see what was in her holistic adrenal serum, and I printed off the ingredients to give to my vet. I showed the list to him, and he found it interesting - it is very similar to a blend he is using now on a few ferrets in his practice. (He sort of wondered if his formula had made its way out east, since he thought he was the only vet working on herbal remedies for adrenal)
Anyway, we had the blood work done, and will be getting the results today. We will talk about possible procedures once the bloodwork is back. My vet is all about Lupron and not Melatonin. Lupron, as we know, treats the disease, not the symptoms. And Melatonin just treats the symptoms - and he feels also causes other damage since it makes the ferrets really lethargic (melatonin is used as a sleep aid in humans).
What we know for certain is that lil Morris will be going in for dental work. He has a bad abcess on one side of his mouth, which hubby and I noticed the first time we brushed his teeth after we got him from the shelter. So he'll be going under, getting work done, and hopefully coming out OK. The date for that surgery is still TBD, based on bloodwork, I'm sure. Right now Morris is getting antibiotics twice a day, and q-tip brushing once or twice a day, and finger brushing every other day. The dental surgery is $80 ($45 for procedure and rehab, $35 for the anethesia).
If all is good with blood work, we'll probably go with lupron and have it given Thursday evening. From what I understand, our vet gives lupron injections monthly for 6 months, and then stops for 4-6 months, to give the lil guys a break. (maybe it's to replicate the natural light cycle?)perhaps during that remission time, I'll be given the herbal meds?
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Post by jojodancer on Apr 29, 2008 7:44:43 GMT -5
Well the bloodwork came back. His glucose is good (106). But his liver values and WBC is high. The vet feels it is because of his dental problems. So we're going to put him on dandelion and milk weed herbal blend for the liver values, and he already is getting .45cc of clinomyacin (sp?) twice a day for the gum infection. As well as brushing once or twice a day with the fido dent and q-tip. The vet also wants to add Saw Palmetto for the adrenal issues. My hubby is concerned that that is a lot of medications at once for the poor guy. We take him from the shelter, (he's been there for 3 years), and now he's having to take all these awful tasting meds! Morris must hate us and dream of his life back at the shelter! Hubby wants to wait for the saw palmetto until after we finish the clinamyacin and dandelion protocol (which will be for the next 7 days or so.) And then hopefully things will be stable enough for the teeth cleaning procedure next week. And then we add the saw palmetto. I think I'm going to ask for an extra bottle of the dandelion and see if the local compounding pharmacist can make it taste like chicken for our guy.
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Post by Forum Administrator on Apr 29, 2008 8:18:27 GMT -5
That's a good idea about the compounding Let us know how the holistic treatment goes. This is very interesting to me. I know a decent amount about natural diet, but not so much about ferret medical care.
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Post by buzzonesbirdie on May 15, 2008 8:11:19 GMT -5
I have an adrenal ferret and have just started looking into non tradtional ways of treating her. I am interested in how everything goes too.
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Post by Forum Administrator on May 15, 2008 14:52:23 GMT -5
Be sure to tell us about it, Jas!
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Post by aleronferrets on Jun 23, 2008 22:32:07 GMT -5
I know one of my friends used an adrenal support herbal supplement on her adrenal ferrets. My three adrenals are part of reserach for a new, non-surgical adrenal treatment but it is not herbal/homeopathic.
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Post by lovethefluffies on Jun 28, 2008 3:05:07 GMT -5
Hello Everyone,
I am a newbie. I met Jojo on the yahoo group and she sent me here. I lost my first baby to adrenal surgery on may 19 of this year. It was a huge shock since the procedure went well, but the stress was to much for him. He was healthy so my vet advised me to remove the gland now while he was strong. After wards through Maggie ( he was a rescue and I did not know how to tell the sex when I named him) developed an ulcer and stopped eating and drinking. They did all they could but after a week in the hospital sadly the love of my life was gone leaving behind his other buds farcus and lolly. I started looking into a holistic approach for there diet since after talking to some people that part of the reason that he made have developed the disease was the foods he ate. So that is how I got here I wanted to give the back story because I noticed that farcus is starting to lose his hair the same way maggie did. So I called my vet today and he of course wanted to cut him open as well. I just feel that there has to be another way. i have been told that switching to a natural or raw diet can really help. I am so willing to do what ever it takes for my babies, I am not sure how to start so I started reading some of the posts here very helpful. I will try starting to wet the kibble. I just wanted to know how I can find a new vet. And if there are things that I should know that might be different for farcus since he just started losing his fur about 2 weeks ago. As for lolly, well I am hoping bu switching now that I can avoid her having the same fate as her brothers. Thank you so very very much!!!!!!!!!!!
Lovethefluffies
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Post by aleronferrets on Jun 28, 2008 16:45:34 GMT -5
I started looking into a holistic approach for there diet since after talking to some people that part of the reason that he made have developed the disease was the foods he ate. So that is how I got here I wanted to give the back story because I noticed that farcus is starting to lose his hair the same way maggie did. So I called my vet today and he of course wanted to cut him open as well. I just feel that there has to be another way. i have been told that switching to a natural or raw diet can really help. I personally feel that adrenal surgery is a very extreme measure to "treat" the disease. A certain percentage of ferrets don't make it through surgery or don't recover from it. If both glands are removed, it can cause hormonal problems which then must be treated. And IME it doesn't seem to extend an adrenal ferret's life back to "normal", as many don't live more than 2-3 years after surgery. Untreated adrenal ferrets can live up to three years, even though they may develop severe symptoms. That said, there is not a lot of options currently for effective adrenal treatment. Melatonin is a natural treatment but it tends to lose effectiveness with long term use. Some people have had luck controlling symptoms with herbal or homeopathic remedies. If you are near Pittsburgh, you have a couple options unavailable in other parts of the country. One is an implant that is effect for up to I believe 18 months and in early studies has reduced the size of adrenal tumors. Another is a "vaccine" which alters the hormone levels. It is very new, created less than 2 years ago. That is the treatment option I opted for and so far, so good. IME a diet change to raw food will not effect your adrenal ferret's symptoms. But it will prevent insulinoma, another very common ferret disease. As to the cause of the adrenal, IMO commercially bred ferrets are "set up" to develop the disease in a variety of ways. There is likely a genetic predisposition that makes some ferrets more likely to become adrenal. This may be close to being the majority of commercially bred ferrets and certainly includes some privately bred ferrets as well. The genetic predisposition though does not mean the ferret will actually develop the disease, just that it has the potential to develop it. One major contributing factor to developing adrenal disease is the juviniele spaying and neutering of ferrets for sale through petstores. The ferrets are altered at 4-5 weeks of age (some have not even opened their eyes at this point) and in removing the reproductive organs, they are also removing important growth hormones. Early altered ferrets certainly have a different look than intact or late alters. This abnormal growth pattern and lack of reproductive hormones during growth also overstresses adrenal system. Another factor is stress and commercially bred kits experience that in excess before they ever get into your home. Early, forced weaning places mental stress on them of course, as well as physical stress due to not having the type of nutrition they are intended to have during that stage of their life. They are put through surgery extremely young, which further stresses them. Then as soon as (before in some cases) they are healed from surgery, they are put into shipping boxes and sent to brokers then to petstores or directly to petstores. At the petstore the stress continues due to overcrowding, poor diet, lack of mental stimulation and another very important factor - excessive artificial lighting. Ferrets entire natural lives are based on light cycles. The light cycles trigger when they lose or grow coat, when they reproduce and when they lose or gain weight. Housing intact ferrets in artificial light for a certain number of hours a day will bring them into season, which is how commercial breeders have year round kits. There is reason to believe that exposure to artificial light for excessive hours a day is an adrenal trigger. Petstore kits are housed in extended artificial bright light for at least 10-12 hours a day. In addition to the lighting cycles being a problem, ferrets are not daytime, bright light animals. They are naturally most active at dusk and at dawn. Their bodies and eyes are developed for hunting underground. Kits out in the open during the day would be at high risk of becoming someone's food. One can imagine that it would be stressful for young kits to be "on display" 24/7, in bright light with large creatures moving all around them. Ferrets are typically housed in see-through aquarium style cages, which offer little security. Most petstores do not provide any dark shelter for kits to sleep or hide in, as that limits their visability to potential impluse buyers. I am sure diet plays a part in the development of adrenal, if for no other reason than an improper one is another added stressor. I feel vaccines also play a part by stressing the ferrets system repeatedly. Caging also causes stress if their ferret isn't properly stimulated. And I suspect ferrets with certain markings (dilutes and white markings) may be more at risk due to changes in their immune systems. But petstore kits are at high risk for adrenal, even if they go to the most holistic minded owners. I have three petstore ferrets and all three are adrenal. Morgan came to me at 8 weeks old and I bought her the day she came into the petstore. She was switched right away to a raw diet and never received another vaccine, beyond what she was given at the breeding farm. Morgan is about 8 years old and has been adrenal for about a year. She is otherwise in great health for her age. Ophelia was at the petstore until she was 6 months old and was switched to raw by 7 months old. She was never given another vaccine beyond what she received at the breeding farm. She was adrenal by a year and a half. Foster has a rather unknown history and was switched to raw at about 2 years old. She developed adrenal at about 3.
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Post by lovethefluffies on Jun 29, 2008 23:56:30 GMT -5
Thank you for all the info!!!! I am still overwhelmed by the fact that I just lost one, and now I am afraid that I will lose my other baby boy. Is their a list of recommended vets? I know that the one I was using means well. I am sorry that I have yet to post pictures, I will soon. Thank you for your post!!!! It is so nice to not feel so alone.
Lovethefluffies
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