From:
daneedv
Date: 2002-06-26 11:34:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Mosby is chasing rainbows - but leaves behind a lot of
questions
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "dr_bruce_williams" <williamsb@c...>
wrote:
>
> I am sorry for your loss of Mosby. The mily change to the serum is
> triglyceridemia, evidence that the body is mobilizing fat stores to
> try to convert them into glucose.
>
Dr. Williams, thank you so much for clarifying some points on Mosby's
problem. I plan on sharing you thoughts with my vet. I think that
he and I were so intent on the fact that Mosby had a history of
Insulinoma, and of tests with low blood glucose, that we did not take
the reading Monday as seriously as we should have. While we knew
something was going on, my vet was afraid to give insulin without
additional monitoring, for fear the Monday test was a fluke.
Now, I have a few more questions for anyone that knows the answers.
1)Is the diabetes actually caused by the pred? Or is it a further
malfunction of the pancreas. Do we know why this happens?
2)Could the fever have been related to the diabetic condition, or is
it likely to be something else?
3) Would having a pathologist look at the pancreas provide us with
additional information that might help us make better decisions in
the future? Currently, I have all the organs that were removed at my
home in specimen bottles. I do not want to pay for pathology work
that will not add additional useful information, but if there is
something that we can learn, I will have my vet submit the samples to
his lab.
4) If pathology work would be advised, are there any other organs
that should be looked at? I have most of them, except the heart.
While I miss Mo a lot, I am not uncomfortable with the decision I
made. He was very sick, and acted like he was in pain at the end. I
also know that managing a diabetic ferret is not easy, and, even if
we had pulled him through the crisis, his chances would not have been
good. Even the vet who preformed the necropsy felt there was little
hope of pulling Mo through, given his condition.
Danee