Adrenal Disease in Ferrets

Question
Hello Ailigh,

I have two wonderful ferrets, Basil and Cinnamon. They were unfortunately both diagnosed with Adrenal Disease today. It was caught early, only the tail shows signs and they are acting normally. However they are quite young to have it, 2 and 3 years old. The vet I saw is very experienced and knowledgeable. However, there were a couple of questions I forgot to ask him and wondered if you might know. If one gland removed, what is the likelihood that the other one will develop a tumor also and within what timeframe? Also, what is the life expectancy of a ferret with one adrenal gland and with no adrenal glands? Thanks. This is very upsetting news to me as they are my babies, and I have very limited funds to finance these surgeries. Though I will borrow some money to do this, I believe if necessary. Any insight you can give would be appreciated.

Maggie Stockin
Fort Collins, Colorado

Answer
I will do my best, but please remember that I am not a vet.  The likelihood of the second gland becoming cancerous is quite high, but it should be a few years yet (unless both are already infected).  If both glands are removed then the ferret is placed on Lupron shots.  I am not sure about life expectancy as the few ferrets I have had with adrenal have been older so we either did surgery in which case they were fine until something else killed them.  In the case of 2 older ferrets that were diagnosed, we stayed just on Lupron shots until they passed.  With ferrets this young, find a way to do the surgery, the results are better.