Until medical treatments are well studied, surgery is still the best treatment. The abdomen is examined for any abnormalities and the abnormal adrenal gland is removed. If both adrenal glands are abnormal, either the larger gland is removed and the other gland is partially removed, or both glands are removed. When both glands are removed, life-long supplementation may be necessary.
The right adrenal gland is more difficult to remove because it is attached by a ligament to the vena cava and may even invade the vena cava. Laceration of this large vessel, one of the major veins that returns blood to the heart, may occur if great care is not used in the right adrenal gland removal.
A number of drugs have been proposed to treat adrenal gland disease including mitotane, Lupron®, Flutamide®, and Arimidex®. Mitotane shows equivocal results in ferrets. Lupron® is a GNRH analog that may have some use in controlling adrenal gland disease. Flutamide® is an androgen blocker that may be most useful in ferrets with prostatic enlargement. Arimidex® is an aromatase inhibitor and should decrease the effects caused by androgens in the ferret.
