From:
reeddion
Date: 2001-12-06 21:01:00 UTC
Subject: Newly Diagnosed Insulinoma-Surgery? etc
My ferret is maybe 4 or older (unsure, he was adopted with no
info) and he was just recently diagnosed with insulinoma a
couple days ago. He showed all the signs, from excessive
salivation and clawing at the mouth to spaciness and weakness
in the hind legs and lethargy. His blood glucose reading was
32. He is just started on prelone at .5cc(.5ml) twice a day, and
he is a brand new ferret (more bouncy than I have ever seen him,
enough so to start attacking feet, which he's never done before)!
He hates the prelone (cherry flavor) unless I mix it with gerber
chicken baby food (more fat and protein than the turkey one) and
some ferretone. He goes in for another blood glucose test next
week to see if he's responding well enough to the dose of
prelone.
However, I had some questions. I'm a very poor college student,
but I love my ferret to death, and I want the best for him.
Should I get a home testing kit for his blood glucose? What is
the best kit (I saw the one that only needs 0.3 ml of blood, that
looked like the smallest amount) and the best way to get blood.
I've heard you can cut the nail above the quick, but I don't want to
traumatize him, since he's so good about letting me cut his
nails. I'd rather lance his pad, but I've been told that doesn't get
enough blood, and that it bothers ferrets more than having their
nails cut above the quick. (And of course, I'd need a kit with
cappillary action strips, right?)
Should I have surgery done? It will cost about $275 at my vet,
which may take me a while to be able to afford anyway. I've
heard that it rarely cures the problem since the tumors are often
tiny and distributed throughout the gland. It also sometimes
makes them diabetic, which is also undesirable. I've also heard
that he can live happily for pretty long on just meds and a special
diet, and since he's pretty old to begin with, wouldn't that just be
a better way to go if he feels ok on the meds? (He's a very picky
eater, and I have him on Purina One kitten chow, but he's really
picky, and won't touch anything else except plain Purina kitten
chow which is terrible for him. I don't know what his previous
owners fed him.)
What is the best and cheapest medication for him to be on?
Prelone, PediaPred, Proglycem? Which is better, Prednisone or
Prednisolone?
Is it normal for him to become more aggressive when playing
and more playful in general while being on this medication (see
part about attacking feet which he'd never done before)?
I'd really like advice both from vets and owner who have been
through this before, I'm pretty new to insulinoma in ferrets.
Thanks,
Amber and Hei Jyo Shin (Peace of Mind)