From:
Pam Sessoms
Date: 2002-01-20 14:04:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] post insulinoma surgery questions
On Sun, 20 Jan 2002, Moxie wrote:
> Hello-my 3 year old Chance had a nodule and less than 1/3 of his
> pancreas removed 1/17. I had to page my vet today and bring Chance in
> as he was very uncomfortable and restless. <snip> He tested his blood
> sugar and it was very high, so high that it didn't register on his
> monitor. So, Chance is now diabetic and we are waiting to see if it
> resolves itself, as some of you have told me that this often happens
> after this type of surgery.
Moxie, yes, several of mine have been diabetic after insulinoma surgery;
in fact, looking back, those were typically the ones with the best
long-term results. None of them stayed diabetic, but none of them had
blood sugars so high that they would't read. Do you know what the top
number is on your vet's monitor?
You may want to get some urine testing strips from the drugs store.
They're in the diabetic testing supplies stuff, and you want ones that
look for KETONES. The big scary complication of diabetes is ketoacidosis,
and you can look for that by testing his urine at home with those strips.
If you start seeing those, that's an indication that you must do something
to lower the blood sugar, probably insulin.
> However, if it does not and he needs to go on medication, we are
> researching this. He mentioned a drug called Glipizide which he has
> used on cats as an oral non-insulin drug. He has not tried it on
> ferrets. Are any of you familiar with this drug or have any
> recommendations as to what drug to use if the diabetes doesn't correct
> itself after Chance's system settles down?
I looked into Glipizide when Sonic was diabetic, and at that time,
everything I read indicated that it had not yet worked in ferrets although
it had been tried. So, we didn't try it. However, I think I recall that
someone either here or on the FML or on APF had recently actually had a
success with it? I did a quick search and couldn't find it...
Keep everyone posted, and good luck!
-Pam S.