From:
Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2002-12-03 15:40:02 UTC
Subject: Alternate insulinoma treatments for 8 yo ferret
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-Id: <20021203104002.235c0b60.whiteweasel@earthlink.net>
Hi, everyone,
Kodo is an approximately eight year old extra large (4.25 lb.) male
ferret. He was a lab ferret and had probably had a lot of trauma the
first few years of his life, but no history of any health problems until
six months ago. He developed insulinoma and did not respond to
prednisone. Blood glucose remained between 27 and 42. Four months ago
he had insulinoma surgery. One limb of the pancreas was removed plus
one additional small growth just outside the pancreas. Histopathology
showed the expected islet cell tumors but nothing else alarming. His
blood glucose returned to normal as did his activity level.
Now, just four months later Kodo is showing symptoms again (low activity
level, some hind leg weakness) and his last blood glucose was 74. I
suspect it's gotten quite a bit lower than that at times for him to be
symptomatic. Our vet started him on .15ml of pediapred daily, but so
far it's had no effect. I really didn't expect it to since pred didn't
help him before. My understanding is that another surgery is not an
option considering how much of his pancreas (about half) was taken
before.
Our vet is worried about Kodo's prognosis and so am I. Beyond pred I
would like to know what treatments other vets have used in similar
situations and what the results were like. Obviously I want to give
Kodo a good quality of life for as long as possible. I also worry about
Podo, his brother, who is happy, healthy, and bouncy, but is very
closely bonded to Kodo.
All thoughts and suggestions are appreciated and will be passed along to
our vet.
All the best,
Caity and the notorious nine