Adrenal gland surgery

Question
Hi Cynthia,
A while back i wrote about "Zoey", my daughter's ferret who seemed to be losing some of her fur. She behaved fine in every other way. Jacquie was kind enough to send a lengthy response which I passed along to my daughter.
Well, today we are kicking ourselves...we may have waited too long to have Zoey treated. She went to the vet on Thursday (we left her overnight for tests) and they did surgery on her on Friday. The result, a tumor on each adrenal gland, but one either attached or dangerously close to the "vena cava". It was difficult to get any info from them yesterday, just that she'd gotten through the surgery and they wanted to keep her for the weekend for monitoring.
He told us this morning that she was drinking a little water, but not eating. Also that she has not shown much improvement since yesterday, so they definitely want to continue to keep her there (they are not charging "boarding" fee, so don't think it's for monetary gain).
I called back and left a msg (office is closed now, but vet lives next door) asking if he felt there'd be any merit in visiting her....bringing her duck soup (she loves it) and her vitamin (also loves it, but we cannot do that until we get a call back...the vet is about an hour from here.
Zoey is approx 4 1/2 yrs old. She's a Marshall's ferret (do they have a history of adrenal problems, or is this typical for many?)
For the past two days, we've been preparing for her return, washing her bedding, blankets, etc.
One other thing which i hope we don't have to face, but i must ask...euthanasia. Is there a "method" that is prepared for ferrets? my concern is that it's not easy to find a vein in them due to their size and the "cardiac" method sounds very painful. Could she be anesthetized first with an inhalant gas of some sort?
Oh, I hate to even write that, but I must face the possibility.
Thanks so much for your time.
gail

Answer
Gail, I am SO sorry to hear that your little girl has adrenal.  How very heart-wrenching.  I remember very well putting one of my girls though surgery, and it is not something I want to have to face again.

Unfortunately adrenal is common in almost any pet-store ferret.  It is thought that the disease is caused by the early spaying and neutering of U.S. ferrets.  Countries such as Britain, which do not practice the early "fixing" do not see this condition commonly.  One of my guys, SCSI, I purchased from a private breeder and had him neutered at 8 months of age.  The breeder has never seen adrenal once in her line of ferrets in over 20 years of breeding.  This is probably because she does NOT have any of her stock neutered or spayed until they are at least 6 months old!

I know how hard it is, but it is wise to at least know a humane way of euthanasia.  I am a vet tech in an emergency clinic, and all too often we see hamsters, guinea pigs and ferrets who need to be put to sleep.    Instead of repeatedly sticking them with a catheter, the best way is to use gas (either sevo or isoflourine).  This is the same anesthetic gas that is used for surgery, and your ferret would not feel any discomfort.  Then, a cardiac stick can be used painlessly.

I hope this has answered your question.  I really do wish you and your little girl luck.  Some ferrets do recover from adrenal surgery and live several years.

-Cindy P.