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Post by Nancy Park on Sept 25, 2011 15:15:33 GMT -8
Please post who you are and any information about why you are interested in this topic and your personal experiences with DES when you became a member.
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Post by Nancy Park on Sept 25, 2011 15:43:23 GMT -8
Hi all, I am a small reputable breeder in Washington State in the US. I have had ferrets since 1992, starting as most do with a pet store ferret. I also do limited rescue with the ferrets staying here as a forever home. I have been researching the Deslorelin implants for some time. I attended the 2011 IFC Symposium and heard Dr. Wagner talk about his studies with DES. Unfortunately, his concentration is on adrenal issues so he did not have much information regarding using DES to castrate. I did talk with Bev Lowton from the UK who said many are using the implants there instead of surgical neutering with good results and no side effects that she knew of. 2011: I used my first implants around January this year. 5 implants to late altered jills and hobs, from 3 to 5 yrs old as a preventative. I have read where it acts to control blood sugars as well. I normally never see adrenal in my own bred ferrets late altered and I necropsy all of mine that pass away so I do have confirmation of that. I have had some, a few only, older ferrets develop insulinoma so was seeing with this group what I would see etc.
1 implant to a 5 yr old late alter jill with mid adrenal, part hair loss with other symptoms, a mystery as to why she has it. and 3 implants to whole hobs .The late alters for the most part have showed no differences. The adrenal girl was a miracle, she looked and acted like a 2 yr old within 3 months with all of her hair back. She is over due for another at 6 months later so waiting for them to send them from back order. She is starting to show some mild signs again so with active adrenal every 6 months is the way to go.
The hobs:
3 year old: went out of season within a month. Has a nice coat on him, hasn't altered his personality. I have seen now at post 9 months some muscle loss but not as much so far as when neutered. I am watching as to what happens now over the winter when the hobs typically bulk up. He has been segregated since fairly young (he's a hob) and I have tried to get him to room with other ferrets but he still plays too rough. He is a very sweet tempered boy. I think he just doesn't know how to get along with others, never learned. But, with most boys, once they are neutered they are usually easy to integrate so will see.
5 1/2 year olds (2): ex breeders. Both went out of season, one hob has a testicle that is still abit large (not almost completely shrunken as happens during the winter). Both hobs are now living with spayed jills and seem fine with them. One has lost some muscle mass as the younger hob but the other looks no different. Both are easy going anyways but the implant makes them even more. One of them now tries to play with me like a kit which was weird for an older 6 lb hob. I did try briefly to see if the two older boys would get along but they started the old dominance thing so backed off. My goal is to get them to house with other ferrets both for my convenience and their enjoyment having buddies so if they house with girls that's fine.
All in all the hobs have lost some muscle mass but not much. Time will tell if that will continue. I have had whole big hobs literally shrink after being surgically neutered and it was sad to see this. I suspect the few of us that are trying this approach now will be the ones to learn from it so others can have the information they need. I am not into experimenting and would never try this had it not been used extensively with adrenal ferrets with no general health problems showing up after it's use. When I got into ferrets years ago people told me "truths" about many things with them. I have found over the years that sometimes they are true and sometimes there is a better way. I am now waiting on a backorder shipment as many of us are in the US, hopefully soon. I plan to implant some young jills and hobs this time. I have also decided to wait to implant my whole guys until I see a sign they are coming back into season instead of every year. My adrenal girl will be implanted again immediately as I do think every 6 months is best with this watching her condition and she is overdue on this. My kids implanted as a preventative will be re-implanted every year or so. Questions that need to be addressed are issues related to what happens once you stop the implant, how does this affect fertility both in that generation and the next and how long to full fertility post implant. Long term health of course is a big one. Dr. Wagner did state he had implanted hundreds of ferrets with Cardiomyopathy with no adverse effects. One of my whole hobs is a 3 yr old injury survivor from another private breeder with Cardio, on meds for about a year now. He will be implanted as he is not a candidate for anesthesia and I would like to see him become part of a group for his general activity and mental well being. More to follow.......
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Riley
New Member
Posts: 3
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Post by Riley on Mar 1, 2012 17:58:04 GMT -8
Im Riley, and Im just here collecting information on DES as much as possible. I currently don't own ferrets, but im looking into obtaining two, and plan on using DES as a preventative, so I will definitely be keeping up here.
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Post by xglassdollx on Mar 2, 2012 12:52:26 GMT -8
My name's Jenny. I'm from the UK, so consider myself quite lucky to have access to unaltered ferrets and what I hope to be good genetics (at the very least, they're not farmed..) I'm the owner of a solo ferret, an albino hob named Winston. He's my first ferret, and I've only had him since early December, so I'm still quite new to all this, and he's still young at just over 5 months. I switched him straight to raw the day I brought him home, and joined the holistic ferret forum for guidance. That's where I learnt about Deslorelin implants, and where I was directed to this forum for more information before I take this leap with my little one. So initially I'm here to learn, as most of the information I've found elsewhere focuses on Des for adrenal. But come Wednesday I'll be using Des myself, and hopefully will eventually be able to contribute information for others in similar situations to learn from.
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Post by sherry on Mar 3, 2012 16:15:41 GMT -8
Hi, Sherry here. Also here for some information, as I have pediatric alters from the stores and rescue. 3 of whom are presently adrenal.
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Post by Nancy Park on Mar 4, 2012 18:25:55 GMT -8
Welcome to everyone. Hopefully with each of us adding in our thought sand experiences we can gain more information on using the implants.
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Post by sherry on Mar 5, 2012 10:13:09 GMT -8
As soon as I can get my vet to get them IN, I certainly will.
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Post by mikeybox on Mar 7, 2012 22:20:26 GMT -8
Hi everybody! My name is Mike, and I have 3 ferrets, Fenton, Fiona, and Finn. Fenton and Fiona are Marshall babies who I want to treat with des to prevent adrenal. They are about a year and 3 months old now. Finn is an intact hob who I got from a private breeder. In fact, I got him from Nancy who runs this forum ;D Finn will be a year old next month. Finn is currently going through his first adult rut and I am learning to cope with the smell and the behavioral changes. If I can handle it, I want to wait until next January to get him implanted with des, for his long term health. So, hello everyone! ;D
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Post by darlene on Mar 11, 2012 23:20:45 GMT -8
Hi I'm Darlene from B.C.,Canada. I have 5 ferrets and 4 have the implant. In the future I'm hoping my next ferrets will be from a breeder and am considering if keeping them intact would be feasable for me. So would like to learn if the des implant is a good option over surgery. Very happy to have found this group
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Post by jackie on May 7, 2012 23:04:47 GMT -8
Hey there everyone!
I'm Jackie, and I'm the owner of Pixie (3.5 yrs old), Trixie (2.5 years old) and Dixie (almost 1.5 years old). I just recently had Pixie implanted with deslorelin. She was showing some VERY mild behavioral signs of adrenal (itchy, thin fur, some rough/mounting behavior when playing). I'm also getting Trixie and Dixie implanted preventatively in a few months.
I hope to (one day) own some breeder fuzz, and use deslorelin as an alternative to altering.
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Post by miamiferret2 on May 9, 2012 8:56:21 GMT -8
Hello everyone, I have used deslorelin for treatment of ACD in early neuter ferrets in the past. it worked very well to treat ACD but I also used it in conjunction with melatonin implants every 3-4 months. works better when you combine melatonin implants with deslo implants. do them about one month apart though. i would not implant on the same day.
I am currently using deslorelin as a preventive in an early neuter Marshall Farms male, Sonny, who was born on 7/25/10. we started with the first implant-4.7 mg suprelorin- in January 2011 when he was 5 months of age. 2nd implant was January 2012. (update) 3rd implant January 2013. so far no issues to report. no signs of adrenal disease. he has a BEAUTIFUL coat. shiny like a mink.
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Post by Nancy Park on May 10, 2012 19:59:52 GMT -8
Hi, update on my crew, some sad. I've lost several of my oldsters that were implanted with the others doing fine. Ralph was implanted to castrate at the age of 61/2. He went out of season completely and was living with his daughter just fine even though she was young, whole and also implanted. He never showed any aggression towards her. Around 7 he started slowing down and found out he had liver problems which eventually took him. He was the sweetest guy. Another of mine was a jill that had been spayed several years ago. she had gotten her first implant Jan 2011 for general health. She did fine until several months ago I suddenly found her stumbling with her head held sideways. Six hours of tests the vet concluded there was probably neurological damage and she was showing blood in her abdomen and I had to make that awful decision. The last jill was an older rescue still whole that was implanted Nov 2011. She had a beautiful coat as she was a huge albino and seemed to be doing fine and a totally sweet girl. A fast moving lymphoma took her within a month. She had not had the best care for most of her life which I believe contributed to the cancer. All three seemed to be doing fine until the other illnesses appeared. I still have 12 implanted for various reasons but most to castrate. One young jill that was implanted to spay a year ago has now come back into heat but she is the only one so far. All of them so far are doing fine with some old, some middle aged and some older. My vet doesn't see any correlation to the illnesses regarding the implants. Just an update. If I sound abit clinical I'm trying to look at things from that view point for this forum so I can be honest about what happens. Anyone that knows me knows I am a total softy when it comes to my kids and it's heart wrenching when they pass on.
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Post by jackie on May 10, 2012 20:43:54 GMT -8
I'm so sorry to hear about your losses T_T
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Post by darlene on May 12, 2012 21:27:39 GMT -8
I'm so sorry
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Post by Nancy Park on May 13, 2012 9:25:34 GMT -8
Thanks everyone for the thoughts , it never gets any easier does it though. These guys are part of my family , everyone of them and it is horrible when they go. I have a large crew between the breeders and oldsters and rescues so there is always someone or more on meds or oldster illnesses here. It's a good month when one doesn't pass to the bridge.
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