From:
pjdutche
Date: 2002-02-24 18:14:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Ferret Insulinoma
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., NaaNaa25@a... wrote:
> could the pred cause him to be bloated like this? i work at a drs
> office and all the nurses told me that pred bloates humans up...
I've never heard of pred causing a ferret to bloat up, but I don't
have enough experience to say whether it can ever happen. If
Bailey's x-rays have always shown it was from gas, though, that
doesn't sound like a pred thing. Probably one of the most common
causes of ferrets "bloating" is from heart disease - they get
ascites, or fluid backed up into the abdomen. But that's fluid, not
gas... I've only had the one case of a ferret with an air-filled
stomach; it was very odd.
> are ulcers curable or just treatable?
They are curable but can be tough, long-term problems. Now, they are
associated with Helicobacter, and there may be reason to attack that
with amoxi/biaxin or another regimine. But it'd be nice to know if
that's the problem before adding on more meds, etc. It's good that
he doesn't have black tarry poop.
> i dont know if this is common or not...they have done about 2 or 3
> different xrays and it never showed a blockage or anything..
Blockages usually don't show up on x-rays in ferrets. Frustrating.
But if he's pooping freely and it's of normal size (although stinky,
not sure how that plays into all of this), blockage sounds less
likely. But partial blockages can be pesky things to diagnose as
well.
> can i buy one of those one touch machines that they use on people
> to check his blood sugar myself? if so, how
> do you get the blood sample?
You *can* use a home glucose monitor, but there is some trial and
error involved in working out your technique, so you may want to get
a reading from your vet's office now, to get the immediate question
answered, and then go from there on your own. That said, though, I
do test my ferrets' blood sugars at home - I have several with
insulinoma. I have had good success with the Freestyle monitor,
which takes very little blood, and lancing a paw pad. I doubt the
One Touch would work because ferret skin doesn't bleed like ours does
when lanced - but I haven't tried that particular machine. With the
Freestyle, I can get them with minimal difficulty by myself and have
success about 90% of the time now. When first starting, it was more
like 50% and I wasted tons of strips figuring it out.
I get everything setup first, and then I put ferretone on the
ferret's belly, select a toe from a hind foot. I wipe it off with a
warm, damp paper towel; select a toe with little hair around it. I
put a very thin layer of vaseline on the toe and wipe off all excess -
the vaseline is critical for me, to make the blood bead up
properly. I also use the vaseline to sort of slick any hair out of
the way. Then I squeeze the toe a little to get some extra blood
into it and then use the automatic lancing device that came with the
monitor, set on "5" for the deepest setting. Wait a sec, then
squeeze the toe again to get the blood to bead out, and then use the
glucometer to sip up the blood. Works great, but it did take
practice.
I have heard that these monitors read a little bit low (in general,
not this monitor in particular) for the safety of the human diabetics
they are intended for, but they are good for seeing a ballpark figure
and for seeing a trend in your ferrets' blood sugars.
Sorry that got so long,
-Pam S.