From:
"Janice Leenhouts"
Date: 2002-09-17 02:00:34 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] To the person on this list who is dealing with diabetes
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <008601c25dee$0309aac0$c1fea8c0@youryn89p666bj>
Leanne and others,
I have had a ferret who lived 19 months after becoming diabetic in response
to a spleenectomy. The spleenectomy was in response to a severe reaction to
her rabies shot. She was pre-treated with Benadryl because she had had a
mild reaction to her distemper shot a month before. I waited 30-35 minutes
after her rabies vaccination and then left for home. Luckily I stopped for
gas and a car wash at a place on the outskirts of my vet's parking lot, so
when Kitzka began projectile vomiting and lost consciousness, I was only 30
seconds from help.
Four hours later I took a still unconscious ferret home. I could rouse
her enough to feed her duck soup, then she was unconscious again. A week
later and her spleen had ballooned. She underwent surgery for that and some
nodules were removed from her pancreas.. Several WEEKS after surgery her
blood glucose was 700-800 and not coming down, so we started her on insulin.
At one point, Kitzka was receiving 3 units of long-acting (Humilin) insulin
every 3 hours - 24 units a day! This was a 2lb ferret.
After starting the insulin, Kitzka woke up one day while I was teaching
class (she went to school with me every day for the duck soup and insulin
every 3 hours). She lived a total of 19 months after all this started. For
the last few months she developed the more typical Insulinoma and was
eventually off all insulin and on pred.
Every 2-3 weeks, Kitzka would spend the day at the vet's to have several
blood draws. We scheduled as many of these as possible when I could be with
her because she seemed more stable in every way when I was one of the ones
holding her. Until the Insulinoma got the better of her, we were able to
keep her BG at 100.... not bad for a ferret who we weren't sure was ever
going to wake up after the initial reaction to the rabies shot.
Ferrets with diabetes can be managed. Kitzka didn't mind her injections.
I would just wait for her to start eating her duck soup and then gently
inject her - using the shortest and sharpest human syringes I could buy. I
would definitely recommend springing for the best needles. I bought Kitzka's
at Costco for not much more than the ones the vet's office uses - and the
human ones were far superior.
Kitzka's vet is a member of this list, so I'll invite her to add any
comments. When we lost Kitzka in August of 2001, we truly lost a treasure.
Janice, Dinky, Baby Girl, and Skittles ~ all missing Kitzka