From:
Pam Sessoms
Date: 2002-12-03 19:20:41 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Alternate insulinoma treatments for 8 yo ferret
To: Caitlyn Martin <whiteweasel@earthlink.net>
cc: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <Pine.A41.4.44+UNC.0212031411130.57618-100000@login3.isis.unc.edu>
On Tue, 3 Dec 2002, Caitlyn Martin wrote:
> Beyond pred I would like to know what treatments other vets have used in
> similar situations and what the results were like.
We've used diazoxide (brand name Proglycem) a few times. It is reported
that some ferrets don't respond to it, but so far, it's worked more often
than not on my guys.
Mojo was a good "poster child" for diazoxide. We added it when he was
nearing a maximum dose of pred, and with the diazoxide, we were able to
cut his pred way back to a minimal dose for a few months. Then we had to
start scaling them both up slowly. When he died (lymphoma), he was at a
max dose of diazoxide and a moderate dose of pred and maintaining normal
blood sugar levels.
Now, I did have one guy named Bullet who it didn't seem to help at all.
But his case was let go for a very long time before he came to me, and he
was also already in a crisis before we tried it. I think that adding it
sooner rather than waiting for it to be a last resort is a good thing. At
least then you'll know, in a more controlled way, whether or not it's
going to work.
My guys have universally disliked the brand name's taste (smells good to
the human nose - like chocolate mint - but tastes quite bad). They'll
tolerate small doses mixed in with gravy, but as the dose gets higher,
they start snubbing it. However, they will take high doses of compounded
diazoxide mixed with gravy with no difficulty at all.
Good luck,
-Pam S.