Trick at about 5 years old.
If you have a ferret, you should learn about adrenal disease! It’s one of the most frequently diagnosed ferret illnesses in the United States. We have a great article on adrenal disease that explains exactly what “AD” is and how to treat it, and I strongly recommend that every ferret owner read it and familiarize themselves with symptoms and options! The albino ferret in the article’s photo is my late boy Trick, who was diagnosed with adrenal disease when he was about six years old.
My first clue that something was up with Trick was when he became overly interested in my female ferret, Trouble, and quite snippy with my other male, Trial. The three of them had been living together for years and years and always got along fabulously, so this change in routine seemed odd. Then I happened to come across a year-old photo of Trick, and realized how thick and plush his coat was then. A closer comparison revealed that he had indeed been losing hair, especially at the base of his tail and up his back. In fact, aggression and hair loss are two classic signs of adrenal disease. When I put two and two together, it seemed obvious.
After some research and a conversation with my ferrets’ vet, I decided to go with the treatment option of a melatonin implant. At about $35 and lasting a few months, it was by far the most affordable action, and it did help him re-grow some hair and regain his sweet, lovable temperament. However, after two implants, his symptoms began to return. Realizing that the melatonin had probably reached its limits of effectiveness, I made another appointment and asked my vet to order a Lupron depot injection. Because the melatonin had seemed to be working, and for me a 4 month Lupron supply was about $275, it was a decision I had tried to put off.
Trick’s vet was having a busy month, and the first appointment I could get was two weeks away. Since the Lupron had to be ordered in anyway, and Trick was itchy but seemed otherwise fine, I thought nothing of it.
Then, on a Friday night, I noticed Trick had been in the corner of the litter box for what seemed like a long time. I stopped to observe him, and he hopped out to come see me. Then he turned around and went straight back to the box. And then hopped out again… and then went back. This time he urinated as usual.
But by Saturday afternoon, he was spending more time inside the litter box than out of it. By Saturday night, he wasn’t urinating at all, no matter how hard he tried. Another symptom of adrenal disease in males is an enlarged prostate, which can constrict or even obstruct the urethra. It’s a serious condition, which over the course of a single day became life threatening to Trick.
After several frantic phone calls, my best option became to drive Trick an hour each way to the only emergency vet open at 9 PM on a Saturday. The whole trip, Trick’s nose and paw pads were a bright pink from the effort he was making to urinate, and he was whimpering in obvious pain. It was heartbreaking and scary, and I felt incredibly guilty – it might not have happened if I had decided on the Lupron shot a few months before.
Once we were there, the vet resorted to drawing the urine from Trick’s bladder with a needle, as they were unable to set a catheter. It saved his life, but it was also a temporary solution. Another phone call to my usual vet’s office let them know that we might be visiting the next day, and they bumped up Trick’s Lupron shot to overnight delivery so that it could be administered on Monday.
Trick with a nice, thick coat!
We got through Sunday with Trick still in discomfort but, thankfully, passing urine. I remember just holding him and telling him I would never care again if he peed outside the litter box — that he could pee wherever he wanted for the rest of his life! The Lupron worked wonderfully, and within a few weeks he was totally back to normal. And you better believe that we were never a week late with his Lupron injections after that, no matter what I had to do to balance the checkbook. We had no more adrenal-related issues for over two years, until Trick passed of an unrelated cancer at the old age of nine.
If you suspect your ferret is showing signs of adrenal disease, have him or her checked out by a vet. Often it is diagnosed without expensive tests, and is very treatable! Ask your vet about “Deslorelin,” a newer drug that has so far been extremely successful in combating symptoms in ferrets. Right now it has to be imported from outside the United States, but has the potential to be much less expensive than Lupron or surgery. It’s something I’m watching closely as my two current ferrets get older.
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I really enjoyed your story. My ferret was diagnosed with adrenal disease a few years ago and has been on lupron ever since. Many other websites say that their is nothing that can be done, or only surgery can help, which i just couldn’t/can’t afford.
Your story is one I sympathize with having experienced the disease with my little girl Lena. The most upsetting thing about having to deal with the disease is the expense of the whole thing and the feeling that you can’t treat your ferret in the best way as fast as possible.
When Lena was diagnosed, after the appearence of the common signs in females: severe weight loss and an swollen vulva, I did my research. The best and most permanent solution is surgery which I learned would cost upwards of $1,600! I also learned that there seems to be a correlation between the amount of light a ferret is exposed to and their suseptibility to the disease. In the wild ferrets are awake only at dusk and dawn, so they are not exposed to much light. I immediately started reducing the light my ferrets were exposed to–hoping to at least help prevent the disease in my other two. Miraculously, within 3 months Lena’s syptoms disappeared! Her hair grew back and her vulva shrank down to normal. I took her back to the vet and indeed, he confirmed that the tumor had shrunk and she did not need the surgery!
I looked for other occurances of this phenomenon and I found that there were several reports of a reduction in light reducing and reversing adrenal disease. So I just wanted to post this for those of you that may be going through the same thing: if the situation isn’t life-threatening, I would try this technique before rushing your ferret into surgery. And start implementing it now so that you may never have to experience this disease at all!