From:
mjanke@directvinternet.com
Date: 2002-12-19 12:15:54 UTC
Subject: RE: Prednisone for Insulinoma- the rest of his life??
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <17877917.1040300154029.JavaMail.root@scandium>
Prednisone acts to increase peripheral blood glucose concentrations. It does not prevent or reduce tumor growth.
If the surgery was successful, he may not need pred for a while, but your vet is in the best position to know whether it is necessary or not. I would have frequent blood glucose checks and adjust the dosage accordingly. If he can get by without it for a while, so much the better. It's likely that tumors will return even if surgery was successful. How long it will be before that happens is anyone's guess.
Giving pred twice a day is not that difficult. It becomes rather routine. Mixed into a soft diet, they seem to get accustomed to the taste and it's not a battle.
Meals high in meat protein are important. This help's to maintain good blood glucose levels. I don't see any reason why he should get Karo syrup regularly if he's not severly hypoglycemic.
6-10 years is a good, rough estimate of lifespan. 10 years is stretching it, particularly with insulinoma. Beasley lived 3.5 years with insulinoma and died at around 6.5 years of age. He never had surgery and was treated only with diet and pred.
mike
Author wrote:
> Hi- I wrote in last week about our oldest male, Freddy, having surgery for insulinoma among other things. They caught it early- he had no symptoms at all, so the blood sugar level was a surprise and it was lucky they did a test. The vet prescribed prednisone and says he'll have to take it for the rest of his life (he's 5- anyone want to weigh in on lifespan of ferrets? I've heard everything from 6-10 yrs...). Is this true?
> I'd like to know:
> - what exactly does prednisone do for him? Prevent tumor growth? keep his blood sugar in balance??
> - should we change his diet in any way? The vet said "more frequent feedings" but we free feed and Freddy is a good eater. While he was recovering from surgery the vet had us give him Karo (corn) syrup every 2 hrs but only for a few days. Should we pick it up again?
> - does he really have to take pred forever? I'm having a hard time with the concept of giving him meds twice a day forever- it's hard enough for a week... What happens if he doesn't take it?
> - can anyone tell me of a source, maybe online, where they can get less expensive prednisone? The first bottle for us was about $32, but I know it will add up. Are there any discount sources?
> thanks,
> Jaime