From:
karenc627
Date: 2001-12-11 14:34:00 UTC
Subject: Surgery or no (insulinoma/poss. adrenal)? And ? re
Ferretone & Pedialyte (long)
My 7.5 year old girl, Murphy, was diagnosed w/insulinoma last month
(blood sugar was 40), and started on .4 cc of Prednisolone 2x/day
(thanks again to all who answered my questions about that in Nov.).
I brought her to a more experienced ferret vet yesterday. Blood
sugar was 69 -- he upped the pred to .45 cc, put her on .1 cc of
Proglycem 2x/day. (She also has a slightly enlarged spleen, which I
understand is common.)
She's also had hair loss on her tail for several months - thin fur
for a while, but in the past few weeks her tail's gone almost
completely bald. No other symptoms (two other vets said she doesn't
have adrenal, but no Univ. of Tenn. blood test done - did an X-ray
last month). This doctor saw her tail and immediately listed
treatment options (Lupron/surgery) -- said the biggest danger with
surgery would be anesthesia. Seems from blood work done last month,
nothing else is really wrong except the insulinoma, possible adrenal,
and enlarged spleen.
He's sending blood to TN to confirm adrenal disease. I guess I have
a week (waiting for results) to decide, if it's adrenal, whether to
okay surgery and maybe say, "Take out half her pancreas too."
Also: she weighed 1.9 lbs in mid Sept., weighed 1.5 a month ago --
hasn't lost any more. Still not awake much, but when she is, she's
playing more. No sign of seizures, and she seems in the past couple
of days to be more interested in her surroundings -- and even ate a
couple of pieces of dry food on her own yesterday (first time in a
couple of weeks).
My questions (finally!): what I've mentioned here is all I know. Do
I know enough to make an informed decision regarding surgery? And
what are the dangers, exactly, with anesthesia?
And two other questions: is Ferretone okay for her? (I want to mix
the Proglycem with it.) And is fruit-flavored Pedialyte okay?
(Seems like a good thing to prevent dehydration.)
Sorry this is so long. Thanks.