From:
dagger4u@home.com
Date: 2001-03-15 23:39:00 UTC
Subject: Adrenal/Insulionma Link?
I have a 2 year old ferret (rescue) and she was diagnosed with
insulionma in December 2000. Her glucose was 16. However, she was just
lethargic. No seizures, pawing at the mouth, nothing. She went on Pred
for awhile, but I wanted her to be on Diazoxide so we weaned of that and
are now on 2.25 mg bid diazoxide daily. She has an appointment with a
surgeon March 26th. My local vet and I have just found out she probably
has adrenal. My local vet stated that the adrenal could actually be
causing the insulionma.
When I look back at the whole thing since December, I think she has had
adrenal all along. Just an atypical presentation. Instead of losing
hair on her back or tail, it's her belly that is completely bare. (her
tail is just now starting to show signs of hair loss) Her vulva is
normal size, however, her coat in general has not been good. Like I
said, she was a rescue and looked terrible when she came to me, but
then, once I got her on TF (food) her coat became very nice and full for
a couple months. Then, gradually, it's turned sparse, course, and she
sheds what little she has. All this came about in December.
I took her in to the vet in December because her bowels had turned loose
and it looked like the green slime disease (ECE) The vet stated she
thought it was and I asked for blood work to be done. Her liver results
were sky high, while her gluc was 16. Again, vet said ok, she has
insulionma as well.
To make an already long story short, we treated her ECE with
antibiotics and fluid therapy, she got better, went on Pred, gluc went
up to 60, weaned off, put on Diazoxide, now gluc holding at 75 (last
checked feb 22) I guess my question is:
Could it be the adrenal causing the insulioma? If it is and we do
adrenal surgery (I think she will be a candidate) then does that mean
she will not have insulionma afterwards? And, when we do surgery, what
are the post op precautions I should take? Someone mentioned giving
duck soup right after surgery, not hard food, and how many times should
her gluc be checked post op?.
Sorry for the long post. Thanks for all the info.
Kim and her furry band of 9