Lupron vs. Melatonin OR SURGERY?

Question
I currently have four lovely young ladies three of which have this awful disorder.  I have all three of them on montly lupron injections (which is quite coslty) I am not very happy with the results for two of my ladies.  My oldest female Mystee is almost completely bald, and still has a swollen vulva and has been recieving her lupron injection every month for the past 2 1/2 years. She is eating, drinking, and otherwise acting normal, but is beginning to move quite slowly and sleeps more she is little over 7.  Another one of my females Mangia has recovered her fur, but still has a swollen vulva that seems to now collect infection and cause her to have constant UTI's( she has also been on lupron every month for the past 2 1/2 years).  She is eating, drinking, and doing great other that the constant UTI's (she takes clavamox for those) she is about 4 1/2.  The last female on Munch, is doing great on the lupron.  My question to you is do you think it would be worth it for me to try the melatonin implants in my ladies.  Due to the fact that i have four of these wonderful creatures surgery is not quite an option because of the expense, and the fact that 3 out of 4 would need surgery. The lupron is only working about half as well as i would like it to.  I love my ferrets dearly and want them to have happy great little lives. I just wondered if you have noticed better results with the melatonin implants in ferrets that have not responded well to lupron?  Thank you very much for your time.

Answer
Hi Nicollette:

I'm so sorry to hear that you have three little ladies with adrenal disease.  Melatonin is really only effective as a preventative in hopes that ferrets won't get adrenal cancer, but once it happens, the ONLY CURE IS SURGERY to remove the tumors.

I always get concerned that so many people have young and otherwise healthy ferrets on Lupron injections.  You could certainly have paid many times over for the surgery that would have gotten rid of the problem instead of just 'masking' it, as Lupron does. Unfortunately so many people are using Lupron these days. Lupron only masks the symptoms of the disease, it does not cure the disease.  

I fault vets in many of these circumstances where they will continue to give your ferret horribly expensive injections every month for years when they could take that same ferret to surgery and remove the adrenal tumors and go on to live healthy, long lives.  Unfortunately, many folks find out only after their ferrets have been on Lupron for a long time that the symptoms eventually "bleed thru" and the Lupron is no longer able to mask the symptoms, so the owner gets to see the condition for what it really is...and their ferrets are incredibly ill and will soon die, unfortunately, if they don't get the surgery.  For some ferrets, it will already be too late because the cancer has already spread to other organs and done irreversible damage.

Adrenal surgery costs vary greatly from one vet to another - even in the same city it can vary from $200 to $1,000!  It is always worthwhile to call other vets within driving distance and ask how much they charge for adrenal surgery.  It would be SO sad to know that your ferrets lives could have been saved for $200 after all you've been thru.  Many vets will also make a special 'deal' for folks with multiple ferrets who need adrenal surgery.  It's always worth asking, calling, begging...whatever you have to do.  

Lupron was intended to be used on ferrets who are NOT surgical candidates because of other diseases OR they are too old to do surgery on (over 7-8 yrs old).  Unfortunately so many folks are using it on younger ferrets who will eventually have very shortened lives because adrenal disease ravages their insides with cancer. The swollen, infected vulva and the baldness that did not resolve with Lupron were their little bodies attempting to raise the *EMERGENCY!* flag to alert you that they had a horrible thing going on inside their bodies.  Bodies will only send out the emergency message for so long, then they just give up and die.

I hope and pray that your little ladies are not too far gone to be saved with surgery....but, please know that for ferrets who have active adrenal surgery - 2-1/2 years of living with the disease is a LONG TIME.  Since it's usually used on elderly ferrets, it's not really expected to work for more than about a year, and it works fine for ferrets within those parameters. I am not surprised that your ferrets are 'slowing down'; no doubt they are facing death if they don't get surgery soon...and maybe even if they do. It may already be too late for surgery to be helpful.

I sure wish I had better news for you. Probably the best favor you could do for your little ones at this point is to have enough heart to help them cross the Bridge (euthanasia) when they become uncomfortable, tired, sick.  2-1/2 years is a long long time to be that progressively ill; they have struggled and struggled to live.  Bless their little hearts.

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers