Ferret and Lupron Depot shot

Question
QUESTION: I recently discovered that a ferret of mine has adrenal disease, since I found him abandoned about a year ago, I had every test done to make sure he wasn't a big risk for my other ferrets. He passed with the exception for a bald spot on his rump, fleas and ear mites.
After that was cleared he was only aggressive to my ferrets and eventually I decided to let a friend of mine have him to keep him in the family, so to speak, and because I trusted her than with a stranger.

A month ago ( August 20, I believe ) he was diagnosed with Adrenal since he started loosing A LOT of hair, the bald patch was suggested he had an allergy to fleas in the beginning. He had a full panel that was clean and the blood test only came back as adrenal disease. He had his first shot three weeks ago and is due for his second next weekend.

Recently he started sleeping a lot and has lost a lot of weight. We are getting his shot updated to this weekend instead of waiting. The vet said that weight loss is very unusual after the first shot and shouldn't appear till about the sixth. He's eating, pooping and playing normal. Still loves to lick us but not as much, which was another sign to us for the disease.
The problem is that the vet wants us to get all these tests done, ultrasound mainly and a few others, which I REALLY want to do but the money I did have saved up for a vet emergency is pretty much soaked up. I had another emergency with my other ferret deciding to eat styrofoam. I can't afford surgery, even when splitting it with my friend, so we're just doing the shots till we have some saved up. We know it doesn't cure Adrenal and only slows it down, but to us something is better than nothing.

How worried should we be about the weight loss and lethargy? Is it just a side affect that will go away? I tried looking it up online but I can only find symptoms for adrenal and not actually side effects for the Lupron shot.

I hope this isn't too long, I wanted to be as detailed as possible. I hope I also didn't leave anything out.


Thank you so much in advance and I look forward to any help you can suggest.

ANSWER: Hi Mary:

I have a ferret on Lupron and he is somewhat lethargic with short spurts of energy now and then - I don't think that is unusual.  The six month DEPOT injection of Lupron seems to work better and last longer with better results than the 30- day one - AND....it's cheaper in the long run too!  Hope that helps at least a little bit. BTW  the aggressiveness most likely (almost assuredly) was caused by the increased hormones and how that he is on hormone treatment, it's prollly fine to put him back with the other ferrets. He will do better in the long run with other ferrets than alone.  If now is too soon, try again in a month....don't give up; it's important for his emotional health.

Eating the styrofoam is a real emergency unless you saw it come out in his poops. You can give some hairball lax and a dose of Vetasyl (like Metamucil) in his soup or in Uncle Jim's Duk Soup Mix (about 1/4 tsp per 1/3cup soup three times a day in addition to vaseline mixed with Ferretone (about a tablespoonful of vaseline and a few drops of Ferretone, then stir, several times a day until you see styrofoam.   If you don't see it, get him to the vet for blockage surgery. If you do see it, continue to give it for at least two days after you stop seeing it to be sure you have it all out.  If he stops eating or drinking, get him to a vet EMERGENCY for blockage surgery.

Hope that helps. Best of luck to you and your little ones. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank you for the quick response, I really appreciate it.
It helps knowing that your ferret is on the Lupron shot so you have personal experience with this and not answering blindly on the subject.

I don't know why I put Depot shot in the first one, perhaps I meant to ask about it and just didn't think to correct it, sorry about that! So you would recommend it over the month-to-month shot? Our vet also said that he, Dumpster baby(I found him in a dumpster at my work,) could build an immunity to the shot and would need an implant eventually. Should I worry about that actually happening?
Also, is the weight loss normal after getting a shot of Lupron? I haven't seen him yet and my friend is telling me that he has lost some weight.


The styrofoam monster, Oliver, is fine now. That happened a few months back and she's fine. Thank you for the concern, though. I spent quite a few bucks just to find out she had indigestion and constipation. She's all better so it was worth it, now she just hordes the stuff instead of trying to eat it. You know something's wrong when a ferret wants to sleep instead of playing with anything that crosses her path.


Thank you again.

ANSWER: Hi again:

There is no "implant" of Lupron that I'm aware of...there is a melatonin implant that a lot of vets like to use.  My personal experience with it was horrible. The implant itself is about twice the size of a large piece of rice....the implanting needle is waaaaaay too thick to be using on a ferret in my opinion.  I had no good information initially, so started with the melatonin implant with my ferret. He screamed sooo loud when the vet tried to place it. The placement was not successful, but my ferret was left bleeding like crazy and he was very very traumatized by the whole procedure and I was a bit annoyed with my vet that she would even try something so painful on an already sick ferret. Maybe I'm overly protective, but I wouldn't EVER let them give any of my ferrets a melatonin implant EVER again!  I feel really strongly about that - AND..the fact that melatonin is only an experimental 'holistic' treatment for adrenal disease with no real facts about its effectiveness.  I felt so stupid when I came home from that vet's visit (years ago) and did research (after the fact, I know) about the melatonin implants. I definitely would NOT recommend the melatonin implant.  My recommendation is the six month Lupron injection which is what my ferret gets.  It says six months, but my ferret has to have it about every 3.5 months.  You just have to watch them and you know when it's time they need it again.  My ferret suddenly starts scratching like crazy and getting really restless, biting at his skin, fur getting little bald spots, etc.  He's been on the shot about three years I think and he  needs the shots closer and closer together as time has gone on.  I think he is probably close to the end of his life, but I know his life has been greatly enhanced by the lupron injections (which, by the way, are also very painful because they must be given in the muscle of the hip - a difficult injection to do).  You will need to have your vet administer it most likely, unless you have some background in medicine and feel comfortable. Even then, you will need someone else to hold the ferret because of the pain they are very very violent in fighting the injection and you don't want to break the needle off in the ferret.

Here is the cheapest place I've found to get Lupron:  Professional Arts Pharmacy 1-800-832-9285. You call them with your credit card information, then give them your vet's name and number and they will call and verify the prescription (so be sure to talk it over with your vet first and be sure she knows they will be calling). They get it to you right away. Have them send it to YOU, then take it with you to your vet's office to be given safely. If not given properly, it is not effective and can make the ferret very sore and ill, so be sure to let your vet actually give the shot. This is the cheapest way to do it; the vet won't get any markup on the cost of the Rx and you have it with you, so you always have the right to take it to any other vet to be given if your vet isn't available (weekends, etc) or any other reason. It's not cheap, but it is like the difference between day and night in how the ferret feels, so I feel it's really worth it.

About the styrofoam...please, please please remove ALL types of foam or styrofoam from your ferret's reach?  That's like letting a child play with a loaded gun and saying he never plays with the trigger, so it's okay.  Styrofoam especially, because of the noise it makes when they bite on it, is the worst. Don't forget to give him a good 3 days of hairball remedy after removing all pieces from all hidey holes just to be sure he's safe.   I once had a friend who said his ferret loved to play with bubble paper (the plastic kind that has bubbles that pop and is used for wrapping).  I warned him over and over about it and he assured me his ferred just loved to pop the bubbles and didn't eat it.  One day I got that fateful call and he was bawling his eyes out, asking why I didn't MAKE him remove it and MAKE him listen to me.   I can only tell you that the danger is REAL and it is THERE as long as styrofoam is anywhere near a ferret. Your ferret is not unique - they all like to hide it away, then chew on it because it feels good on their teeth and makes a neat noise.  PLEASE remove it before you have a fatal mistake to report?  It's up to us as ferret parents to remove things like this - to know better and make them play with only things that are safe for them.  Here are some great lists for ferretproofing that might help with other items you may be unaware of also:

* http://www.ferretcentral.org/faq/part2.html#ferretproofing
* http://groups.msn.com/Ferret/yourwebpage10.msnw
* http://groups.msn.com/Ferret/ferretproofing2.msnw

If your little girl is still lazy and not being herself, I strongly recommend a barium xray to see if there wasn't some styrofoam inside of her causing a partial blockage - that would make her very very listless. Listlessness is never something to be ignored. Sometimes its the ONLY sign we have that a ferret is sick and/or dying.  Are her poops scant or skinnier than usual? If so, the blockage is probably low in the bowel. Otherwise, there could just be styrofoam in her tummy leaving no room for food. DEFINITELY worth getting that xray before she takes a turn for the worse.....because IF she does have styrofoam inside her, it will kill her if not removed and once there are more symptoms, it will probably be too late by then.

I wish the best for your little girl and hope all goes well for her. Please give her a hug from me and get that barium xray if you can. If your vet isn't familiar with how to do it, just put a little barium in some warm A/D and feed it to the ferret, then xray about every 20 minutes until it passes through the bowel. If there's anything else I can do to help, please don't hesitate to write again. Please update me?

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thank once again for your reply, I really do appreciate it.

It's good to know that I shouldn't go with the implant, I wouldn't be comfortable having it done with a needle. I gave water injections to a ferret once since he became dehydrated for a period of a week after he had  surgey and it was horrible. The needle wasn't huge but since they don't exactly know what's going on they scream and fidget. I couldn't imagine them getting shot with a needle larger than 1mm and still be awake for the process.
I'm still a little worried about the weight he's lost lately. It's only been a month and he's slimmed down quite a bit. I know a sign for Adrenal is loosing weight but the only sign he showed at first was the hairloss and excessive licking. Is the weight loss a side effect of the first Lupron shot?
The vet is doing our injections for us since I trust her greatly and she knows what she's doing. The shot for us is only $20, but I'm sure the Depot will be a little bit more expensive but I'm sure it'll even out in the long run compared to if we did it month-to-month. But if it becomes much more than that I will definitely keep that number in mind, thank you for it.


Like I said Oliver is fine, this happened MONTHS ago and she's no longer constipated. The whole ordeal happened only two days. First day we noticed she wasn't acting right and next day I took her to the vet. Then she was fine and dandy after having a little bowel movement. She didn't have anything in poop that we could see, and she DEFINITELY had an xray when I took her to the vet and nothing was causing blockage.
We removed ANYTHING that is styrofoam related, especially the kind that easily crumbles with wear-and-tear, since her little mishap.
I've owned ferrets since I was little and every time we had two the house was ferret-proofed like crazy, my apartment is still the same. The christmas ornament was wrapped in cloth so we didn't realize what it was made out of until we discovered it under the couch. Ever since then we get plastic throw away cups instead of the styrofoam ones for parties because of her and her obsession.

We had take away one time and she actually tried to take the styrofoam bottom despite there being food on it. She's a little bugger if there ever was one. We've since replaced her obsession with the ferret/cat toys that have a bell in them. She seems to love those the most and have a nice little collection of about 20 of them under the couch.



Once again thank you, I'm feeling a little bit more relieved about having a ferret with Adrenal Disease. I know it's pretty common for his age group, and ferrets in general, but having someone with personal experience on it makes a huge difference.

Answer
Hi Mary:

I'm so happy to know your little girl has such a good mommy.  I'm shocked you can get lupron shots for $20!!!  The ones I get that last for six months are about $200 and that's a really good price. Makes me wonder if your vet is doing lupron or melatonin. Melatonin shots run $20....might want to be sure next time you see her.  Melatonin is not as effective.

The fur loss, scratching, dry skin, nervousness, all that is related to adrenal disease. Don't know if I gave it to you before, but here are some links that tell about adrenal disease:


ADRENAL DISEASE:
* http://www.petcarevabeach.com/adr.html
LUPRON as treatment:  
* http://miamiferret.org/fhc/lupron.htm
MELATONIN:
* http://miamiferret.org/fhc/melatonin.htm
UNIVERSITY OF TENNESSEE PANEL test for Adrenal Disease Info:  
* http://www.vet.utk.edu/diagnostic/endocrinology/
Adrenal FAQ from Ferret Central:  
* http://www.ferretcentral.org/faq/med/adrenal.html

ADRENAL CRYOSURGERY:
* http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/cryosurgery.htm  (Dr Weiss)

Hope maybe that will answer any questions I haven't covered. Sounds like you have everything under control and hopefully have a good vet too :-).  Give that little girl a big hug, k?

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers