From:
ferrets1st@ferretshelters.com
Date: 2001-03-02 08:12:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Vit. B and Pred.
On the pred dosage... (Vets, please correct me if I'm wrong) I'd say
excess pred will do a lot less damage than a seizure from low blood
glucose.
It has been my experience, that once a ferret has several seizures,
his general health begins to deteriorate, compared to ferrets on high
long-term dosages of pred. As a general practice, we administer pred
for an insulinoma ferret (with no other medical complications) until
the dosage has to be increased to the maximum dosage. This is
postphoning the insulinoma surgery knowing that the insulinoma
condition will eventually return and may require another surgery
after another period of pred medication. If, as is often the case,
adrenal disease is also present, the surgergy is not postphoned.
Our key to having generally healthy insulinoma ferrets has been
consistent diet; making sure they eat a quality food... regularly!...
with a high protein soup supplement once or twice daily (depending on
age and severity of illness).
And also, we've had much more consistent results using Pediapred
rather than other forms of pred... Even though it's the same medicine
and the form should (theoretically) make no difference. I don't know
if it's because the correct dosage is easier to measure consistently
or if it's something else in the formulation. We've had stable
ferrets suddenly crash when switched from Pediapred to a prednisolone
suspension.
Soups and gravies are a rather controversial subject. (I suspect
because it's similar to insulting someone's cooking LOL) The usual
problem with soup recipies is additional, unneccessary ingredients.
Soup recipies should meet the need of the individual ferret. The
best "general" soup recipe would be the ferret's usual kibble soaked
and mixed with water to the consistency of tomato soup. This would be
a soup you could give them everyday, if you wish, or as an occasional
treat. Then, when someone needs soup, you've got one that's familiar
in smell and taste to add meds or temporarily necessary ingredients,
and it's not so stressful to wean them back off of it when they begin
to recover.
As for your "picky" ferret, just keep a mixture of her food and the
food you'd like to switch her to in her bowl at all times. It could
take months, even a year, to gradually switch her to a better food.
With any "new" taste for ferrets, you must continue to offer it. Very
few ferrets instantly accept a new food.
Debi Christy
Ferrets First Foster Home
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "Linda" <anmllvr@g...> wrote:
... He is on .5cc of prednisone twice a day. He has been on this
dosage since around November. We tried to bring him down in December
but he had a small crash on the 9th so we brought him back up
to .5cc. which is what he was on originally. He is doing very good
on the level he is on. But I would like to reduce it alot. I am
afraid that there will be long term damage for him in the long-run...
What I was wondering was can he get too many Vitamin B? How much
would be too much? ... Also my vet says not to give my healthy
ferrets chicken gravy or duck soup. Well I would like to give this
to them as sort of a treat so in case they were to get sick or
something it would be less of a struggle... Do you give your healthy
ferrets either chicken gravy or duck soup. Also I have a very picky
ferret and she does not like anything except for her food. They are
on a mixture of Eukanuba kitten food and Mazuri. She is a very good
eater but I would like to try her on something she would eat in case
she gets sick or something. Her weight is not really something that
is a worry unless it is the over-weightness. She is 3 and 1/2
pounds...