From:
Stephanie
Date: 2001-07-25 18:25:00 UTC
Subject: [Ferret-Health-list] ferret teary eyes
Nicole,
Not to alarm you, but you should not be giving your
insulinomic ferret honey. It has too much sugar which causes
the nodules to increase insulin production hence lower blood
sugar. It should only be used when an acute attack is going on
and you need to get him out of a seizure or coma due to severe
low blood glucose. The best approach is to remove all sugar
from their diet and feed frequent high protein meals. Also
giving prednisone helps keep the blood sugar up. I'm not a vet
but am currently dealing with an insulinomic ferret and have
seen what works and what doesn't for my little guy. I've
included a bunch of links, in case you don't already have them
that have a wealth of info about insulinoma. Also, I would
definitely do surgery sooner rather than later. If we had done
ours sooner he would be in much better shape now and have a
much longer prognosis. He was a rescue so it wasn't done until
he came to us and by then it was too little too late. A large
tumor was removed, but the small nodules had spread throughout
his pancreas. If it had been done early, the vet could have
done a partial pancrectomy and severely slowed the spreading.
I'm not sure how ferret experienced your vet is (and please
don't feel that I'm putting her down), but I would get a
second opinion on the surgery and treatment of your guy from
somebody who has dealt a lot with insulinomic ferrets.
Good luck to you and yours,
Stephanie
with Maggie, Bullwinkle, Shasta, Emeline and Icabod
Insulinoma links:
http://www.lbah.com/Ferrets/insulinoma.htm
http://www.ferretcentral.org/faq/med/insulin.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/insulino.htm
http://www.ferretnews.org/insulinoma.html - talks about
surgery being the first step in treatment
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/prednisone.htm
http://home.att.net/~hhoefer/ferret_insulinoma.htm - talks
about prednisone being the first step in treatment
-----Original Message-----
From: Nicole Hilliard [mailto:nhilliard@cdnwebmedia.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2001 8:34 AM
To: Ferret-Health-list@yahoogroups.com
My Ozzie has "teary eyes" too. My vet said it could be a
blocked tear gland.
So, instead of the tear gland draining the tear liquid down
thru the
sinuses, the eyes look really watery 'cause the tear liquid
has to come out
somewhere. She said that they didn't have anything small or
fine enough to
unplug the tear gland. And, since it doesn't seem to be
bothering him (he
wipes his eyes on me all the time), then it's not something
to worry about.
BTW, for all those people who nicely responded to me about
my problems with
Ozzie (seizures, etc.), I took him to the vet and got his
blood glucose
level checked. It was low. My vet, Dr. Kelton, thinks he is
in the very
early stages of insulinoma. I've followed her advice and put
some honey in
his water and made sure he gets more ferretone. Dr. Kelton
felt that surgery
at this point would be wasted because she may not be even
able to see any
nodes on the pancreas.
Thanks again for everyone's suggestions.
Nicole
----- Original Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2001 3:10 PM
> My ferret Taz has "teary eyes". I have a terrific ferret
vet who
> cannot figure this out. Taz is nearly 8 years old, & got
a clear bill
> of health at his last checkup recently. The eyes are not
a problem,
> but I was wondering if anyone else has had this experience
with their
> ferret. Thanks.
>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> Ferret-Health-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
> To post to the Ferret Health List send an email to:
> Ferret-Health-list@yahoogroups.com
>
> The advice and opinions expressed in this forum are by no
means a
substitute for prompt, hands-on care, from a licensed,
practicing
veterinarian.
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>
>
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
Ferret-Health-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
To post to the Ferret Health List send an email to:
Ferret-Health-list@yahoogroups.com
The advice and opinions expressed in this forum are by no
means a substitute for prompt, hands-on care, from a
licensed, practicing veterinarian.
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of
Service.