From:
peezeel@yahoo.com
Date: 2003-04-30 09:32:05 UTC
Subject: Making sure he eats - need help!
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <2068707.1051695125035.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
Hello, I am new to this list but thought it might be better to post my problem here rather than just on the FML. Here is my problem - I came home around 10pm last night to find one of my ferrets unable to walk. His head kept bobbing to the left and if he tried to walk he would fall over on his left side. He seemed very alert, not dazed at all. He just couldn't control his body. I was thinking he had a stroke but before panicking I gave him some Nutrical and then started feeding him kibble piece by piece just in case it was low blood sugar. He wolfed it down and then I followed with a few spoonfuls of chicken baby food. He was fine after that so I am assuming that he didn't eat all day long and just had really low blood sugar.
Some background - he just had adrenal surgery on April 4th. He wouldn't eat his kibble (Totally Ferret) afterwards so I fed him baby food. It took two weeks to wean him off of the baby food and get him back on his normal food. I've been through this with 3 other ferrets before but he would nearly starve himself before eating his own food. I thought we were doing okay the last three days until yesterday. I can't understand why he would not go eat when it was obvious that he was hungry. I suspect insulinoma because he also has hind leg weekness to the point of slipping on floors and deteriorating muscle tone . But my vet checked his pancrease during the adrenal surgery and didn't find any sign of tumors.
So my questions are 1) what can I do to make sure he eats and 2) should I just start treating him like he has insulinoma and get him on medication (and if so what kind)?
Thank you in advance for any help or thoughts.
- Pam