THANK YOU! I have been meaning to email your company for months! My dear, sweet ferret began to have adrenal disease, and my vet didn't know what to do as I live in a very small town and he doesn't see too many ferrets, so I hit the internet and researched and researched and thought my only option was Lupron. I hated to think I would have to give her that, so I researched more and stumbled upon melatonin as the answer, then your site, the BEST of all information out there, popped up and I finally had my answer. My vet agreed, ordered for me, implanted my ferret (before, I had been crushing melatonin tablets, with limited success) and almost immediately, I mean, within one week, her symptoms began to disappear! It has been wonderful. Thank you for all the research, information and stories you have on your site, and for providing this product in an affordable, easily administered method. My ferret became robust, healthy and happier right away. Who would ever think that little carnivorous rodents (I know, I know, they are not actually rodents!) could enrich people's lives this much?! Roxanne
Please tell everyone how wonderful your product is for the quality of life of my ferret. Tasha was to old to have surgery and was also mean and bald and "oh my god" the poor kid, until your Ferretonin implant. She is playful, loving,happy and full of hair (although it did grow back a slightly different shade, she does not mind). I highly recommend using the implant on older ferrets to give them a great quality of life as they start toward the rainbow bridge. East Coast Ferrets Shelter.
COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY FERRETONIN IMPLANT STUDY IS COMPLETE!
As for the study data--it looks REALLY GOOD. We saw clinical resolution in all ferrets, decrease in hormone levels in all ferrets (though not all fell into the normal range), and owners gave a very high quality of life score. Dr. Matthew Johnston The full study will be out 2009!
Thanks Tim,
I've recommended to several veterinarians that they try the implants, and it also goes out with all of our adrenal panel dog patients in the form of the Treatment Option sheet. I do hope it makes a difference in the treatment of adrenal disease in dogs. Regards, Jack.
Nancy, As one of the owners of an *Atypical* Cushing's girl, wanted to chime in with Samantha that this would be the next place to go. Fortunately if Juneau has the sex hormone imbalance, it is fairly easy (and inexpensive) to treat. For my Eskie, we have a Dermatonin Implant (melatonin implant) inserted every 4-6 months and mix Flax seed lignan extract into her food. The testing is done at U of TN. Your vet does the sample draws according to their instructions and sends it cold packed on FEDX. I live in Alaska and Magic's test samples arrived there for testing in good condition. FYI, the implants are inserted under the skin, like having a micro chip inserted.
Right now my Atypical dog is panting up a storm because the new implant has been on back order and the old one wore out. I see vast improvement within a week to ten days after she receives new implant.
I thought I'd update you on the effects after implanting my personal ferret with the melatonin ... I'd written to you asking if it was advisable to implant a whole ferret, and I did so in early October 2005. Before implanting, Loki (a 10 month old whole male ferret) was in season, very stinky, and getting that "lean and drawn" look so common to whole ferrets in season. Two weeks after the implant, he come out of season and visibly relaxed. He was calmer, and, I think, happier. He gained a few ounces (he wasn't all that thin to start with) and his fur thickened up. I was able to allow him to play with other ferrets without the fights common to whole ferrets in season.
What I found most interesting was that his muscle tone seemed to get better. This ferret is on a diet of mice (90% of his intake) and he already looked good, but I've always hated the way they get drawn-looking when they come into season. I wasn't going to be breeding him, but I wanted to let him get to 1 year before neutering him. He was neutered about 2 weeks ago, and is doing very well. His fur is already growing back from being shaved for surgery, and he's a happy ferret. Barbara C
Author wrote:
> Dear Carol: The implants are not radical. They are a godsend for those of us who cannot be home every day to administer oral melatonin. I tried giving mine the melatonin when I got home every day - from 6 - 7 pm ... for a year, and it didn't help. Now, thanks to the implants, two are still adrenal free (so far), one who was scheduled for surgery reverted to negative - all his fur grew back and his hormones on the Tennessee panel came back normal - and my two with inoperable adrenal tumors who cannot have adrenal surgery are still alive and bouncing around after 11 1/2 months .... (Those two are also on lupron and propecia). > While I don't think the implants are THE answer - yet - so far, they have worked better than anything else I have tried. This is the longest mine have been crisis free. I started my newest adoptee on the implants and I will be amazed and eternally grateful if the three healthy ones don't become adrenal. So please don't be too quick to jump to conclusions ... everyone wants the best for their ferrets, and many of us will disagree on what that is .... by the way, I got the idea from one of the most respected ferret vets in the country - Dr. Jerry Murray, and my vet is quite pleased with what she is seeing in her patients so far .... good luck, I hope yours stay well and live long and happy fuzzy lives ....
Dear Tim, We have been working with our vets and found that we needed to have some examples to show them. We implanted 3 of our own Ferrets 40 days ago and the pictures below are the results so far. I can hardly wait to see what they look like in another month or two. This live example and not just photos are important to show the vets over here (JAPAN) and our IFS members. Very impressive so far. I am very optimistic about this project. I am sure it will be accepted gladly by almost all vets and Ferret owners. I will keep you informed as things progress. I think we have a winner with this.
Regards
Michael
A Ferret from Japan!
From: "Susie Lee" Date: Tue, 07 Nov 2006 20:15:07 -0000 To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com Subject: [ferrethealth] posted pics of before-after melatonin implant
One of our turned-in elderly ferrets at The Ferret And Dove Sanctuary, Inc., Coco Chanel ferret, came in with advanced adrenal symptoms and extremely thin. After extra and soupy feedings to encourage weight- gain, she recieved a melatonin implant at our main veterinarian's office and after the first week with it, re-grew the hair on her neck. We and the vet were all thrilled at this much improvement...but Coco Chanel had more to surprise us with...within the next three weeks after the neck-hair re-grew, she sprouted new fur on her tail...and Then on the rest of her! Four weeks after the implant, you ought to get a gander at her photo in the "before and after" little album in this group...she looks like a snappy young and symptom-free ferret with her best buddy, Millie Vanillie Ferret cheering her on! I love what these implants have been doing to help the elderly adrenal- symptom ferrets regain a much more comfortable state of health and happiness. We've had as-good results for four other older ferrets who came in with bald areas before we had a digital camera donated to us, but Coco Chanel's has been the most spectacular!
Hi, There is lots in the archives but wanted to tell you that we have used the implants. We have used them in 7 ferrets over the years since they came out. They will help the fur grow back in but it is my understanding that they don't halt the adrenal growth, but when used in conjunction with lupron depot the adrenal tumors have been known to actually shrink. We are working on getting the lupron depot at the moment. It is quite expensive so we are trying to get the vet hospital to order it. (it is prescription anyway) We were quite happy with the results of the implants and will continue to use them but hopefully will be able to start using them with the lupron depot. Hope that helps. I assume you have been to the Melatek website. Tim Cairns is a great guy to talk to if you need to talk to someone there. Lynne and the brats
FACT: ORAL MELATONIN WILL NOT WORK AS LONG NOR AS WELL AS THE Melatonin IMPLANT. TO DATE, THE IMPLANT (FERRETONIN) HAS CONTINUE TO SUBSIDE ALL EFFECTS OF ADRENAL DISEASE FOR OVER 3 YEARS AND COUNTING.
QUESTION:
Earlier this week on the FML some information was released regarding a study about the melatonin use on ferrets. It said it would not shrink tumors (I probably suspected that but was thinking quality of life), but I found it alarming that it claimed after 8-12 months that melatonin no longer may work on quality of life issues. I have not found that to be true yet. Do you have any input on this study that you would be willing to share with me when you have a chance? I would greatly value your input.
ANSWER:
We have known for years that the oral melatonin seems to have limited effects after 8 to 12 months, but with the consistent release implant (ferretonin) we have not had this issue. In fact, for over 3 years I have a client that is loving the quality of life. Implants last .....oral does not..... implants are administered very easy ....oral time consuming?. DR. Joseph Kelley DMV
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