From:
Russell Prater
Date: 2001-12-11 17:20:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] Surgery or no (insulinoma/poss.
adrenal)? And ? re Ferretone & Pedialyte (long)
karenc627 wrote:
>
> 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.)
I just read that Dr. Dutton is having good success with treating
insulinoma with doxorubicin, an anticancer drug. You might want to have
your vet contact him for his protocol. Michael Dutton, DVM, DABVP(CFP),
Weare Animal Hosp, Voice; 603-529-4999, Fax: 603-529-4980.
> 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."
If hair loss is on the tail only, look closely and see if there are
black dots on the tail. If there are, it's more likely to be "rattail",
which is either a cosmetic acne or a mite infestation. Adrenal disease
usually causes hair loss on the body.
> 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.)
Ferretone is okay, it just contains oils. Pedialyte, on the other hand,
contains sugar. There are powdered electrolyte replacements around that
do not contain sugar.
I must tell you, I am not a vet, just a long term ferret owner.
--
Russ, Booger, Bonnie & Clyde
russellprater@w...
URA Redneck if your brother-in-law is also your uncle.