From:
Bruce Williams, DVM
Date: 2001-10-27 13:02:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Surgery ?'s
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "Trina" <tridixon@h...> wrote:
> Hi everyone. I have a 5yr old female going in for adrenal surgery
(w/ the good chance of pancreatic tumors) on Thursday. I have some
questions -
>
> 1. Regarding food - Ground up kibble w/ baby food and ferretone
mixed with some pedialyte (if needed) and water - is that a good
mixture to feed her? Or should I just stick to the babyfood by
itself? This is what they are used to eating when sick (the amt of
kibble I put in depends on how sick they are and what I think their
digestive system can handle, I just guess at it really). I can get
science diet a/d from the vet if that would be better?
I think that I would stick with the babyfood alone for 3-4 days if
she will tolerate it. Pedialyte is really only necessary if she if
vomiting or having diarrhea. Ferretone is also necessary only if
that is the only way that she will eat the babyfood.
Especially for short term supplementation, a/d doesn't offer much
more than babyfood. If she is acting fine in 72 hours, you can start
adding the kibble back in.
>
> 2. Should I take some of the mixture to the vet and have them feed
her right away? The surgery will be in the am and I won't be picking
her up until 6pm, is that too long to wait?
>
No. Remember that any general anesthesia shuts down the normal
peristalsis of the gut, and it takes a while to come back. I
generally wait until the next AM to start feeding - they can have
water that night, but unless they are insulinomic, I find that most
do better with about a 12-18 hours fast post surgery to allow the gut
to "wake up". Then the next morning, feed a small meal of babyfood
early, and if that stays down, you can go every two hours, gradually
increasing the size and decreasing the frequency of the meals.
> 2. If pancreatic tumors are found - what can I expect next? Does
it necessarily mean that she has insulinoma and needs constant
medication? Is it possible that the vet can pop out the tumors and
she can go without meds for a while longer? I realize that it
depends on what he goes in and finds, but I'm just wondering if
finding islet tumors always equates to insulinoma and meds?
Most insulinoma patients are treated with tumor removal and most do
not require medication - but a lot do. Usually there is a respite of
several months before medication is needed however.
A pancreatic tumor is generally an insulinoma until proven
otherwise. I would prefer that they all are insulinomas, because in
the rare instance that it is not, it's usually something worse.
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, dVM