From:
AFERRETVET@cs.com
Date: 2001-08-29 16:31:00 UTC
Subject: [Ferret-Health-list] RE- hypoglycemia/cataracts
Hi Sue,
I have noticed a lot of my insulinoma patients have cataracts.
I first thought this was from pred. (Yes, unfortunately pred can
cause cataracts, but it is rare. The same problem with the human
nasal
steroids for allergies ie. nasonex, flonase, etc.) Then I noticed
some
with cataracts before pred and most of the ones that are on pred
develop
cataracts late in the disease when pred is no longer doing a good
job
controlling the hypoglycemia. I talked to Dr Annajane Marlar about
this.
She is a board certified ophthalmologist here in Dallas. She did her
residency at the U of Wisconsin and was one of the authors of the
article: Cataracts in a laboratory colony of ferrets. (The colony
was there
at the University and the problem was from the diet.) Anyways she
said that
hypoglycemia can cause cataracts just like hyperglycemia (diabetes)
can
cause them. She also had the chance to do some cataract surgeries on
the ferrets there at U of Wisconsin.
Hope that helps,
Jerry Murray, DVM