From:
Pam Sessoms
Date: 2001-11-16 19:06:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] HELP! Highyly unusual and unlikely
medical situation
On Fri, 16 Nov 2001, Pamela Drazinski wrote:
> So - how does a ferret go from having insulinoma to diabetes? A
> search of the medical literature states that non-surgically induced
> diabetes is very rare, and I imagine perhaps even unheard of in a
> ferret previously diagnosed with insulinoma.
Pamela,
This really is an unusual situation, but it has happened in a few isolated
cases before. I can't address the hows and whys for how this happens, but
my own ferret Sonic became temporarily diabetic while being treated
medically for insulinoma. Sonic was never placed on insulin - we watched
for signs of ketoacidosis and would have put her on it immediately if it
had started, but that never came to pass even though her blood sugar was
in the 600's. She levelled out OK on her own when the pred was weaned
away, and today she is once again on it for returning hypoglycemia,
although her therapeutic range for it is quite small and I have to adjust
it a bit when she starts to spill sugar into her urine again.
Another ferret belonging to someone else on this list recently had it
happen too, and he did indeed wind up on insulin. A search of the
archives at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferret-health-list will turn up
more details on this and maybe other cases...
It sounds like you have things in hand, and I wish I could explain the
causation here! Hang in there, this is very stressful. Keep us posted
on Abby.
Best wishes,
-Pam S.