Adrenal Disease in Ferrets: Causes, Signs, Treatment & Prevention

While you can use oral melatonin, the success or failure of it depends on the time of day it is given. It needs to be administered exactly 7 – 9 hours after sunrise to mimic the natural release of melatonin. If given at this time every single day, oral melatonin is extremely effective. Unfortunately many ferret owners are not home during this time. A more convenient way to administer melatonin effectively is to use Ferretonin, a melatonin implant. Implants last about 3 – 4 months, and provide a steady level of melatonin over that time period.

Melatonin implants alone cannot be used to treat adrenal disease, and the best results are seen if Melatonin implants are used in conjunction with Lupron Depot.

Medications to avoid

Lysodren (mitotane) was formerly used as a common treatment for adrenal disease, but studies have shown that Lysodren doesn’t stop the stimulation of the adrenal glands and causes low blood sugar. This is a concern, as insulinoma and adrenal disease are often seen together, and ferrets with insulinoma struggle with low blood sugar already. Overdosages or incorrect dosages of Lysodren were also known to cause Addison’s Disease.

Nizoral (Ketoconazole) is used to treat Cushing’s disease (hyperadrenocorticism) in dogs, which is completely different from adrenal disease (also hyperadrenocorticism) in ferrets. Though they are the same disease, the same drugs cannot be used to treat both.

Vetoryl (Trilostane) is also used in dogs with Cushing’s Disease, and increases the level of a hormone that is already quite high in ferrets with adrenal disease. Giving this to a ferret with adrenal disease would make the problem worse.

Nolvadex (Tamoxifen) is an anti-estrogen medicine in humans. However, it actually has estrogen-like effects in ferrets, which would have a negative effect on many ferrets with adrenal disease.

PREVENTING ADRENAL DISEASE

Unfortunately, there are no proven ways to prevent adrenal disease. It is currently thought that the early neutering/spaying that is done by large scale breeders directly contributes to adrenal disease, and in most cases, the ferrets that you get will already have had this surgery. If they are intact, it is recommended that you wait until they are at least 6 months of age before getting them spayed or neutered. Adrenal disease is still seen in ferrets who are spayed or neutered after reaching sexual maturity, but it is not as prevalent.

Recent studies have shown that light cycles also contribute to the development of adrenal disease. Melatonin, as mentioned above, regulates the release of GnRH. GnRH affects how much the adrenal glands are stimulated. Melatonin is produced when the ferret is in total darkness. Most of our ferrets live in the same environment we do – natural daylight during the day, and several hours of artificial light in the evenings. This obviously shortens the amount of time the ferret is in darkness, thereby decreasing the production of melatonin. Less melatonin means more GnRH is released, which then overstimulates the adrenal glands leading to adrenal disease. A ferret’s optimal light cycle is about eight hours of light and sixteen hours of total darkness each day. It is thought that this will allow your ferret to produce the most melatonin possible. There are some ferret supplies, such as cage covers and certain types of fabric bedding, available to help you create the necessary photoperiods.

IN SUMMARY

It’s important to add one more thought here – adrenal disease is very treatable in most cases. Not treating adrenal disease is condemning your ferret to die, when this doesn’t have to be the case. If you see signs of adrenal disease in your ferret, please get him checked out as soon as possible. Ferrets can live long and happy lives after they are treated for adrenal disease, and I know we all want that for our fuzzies!

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