From:
Pam Sessoms
Date: 2003-05-13 20:34:59 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] insulinoma - HELP
To: ginseng@neo.rr.com
cc: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <Pine.A41.4.44+UNC.0305131621290.68334-100000@login7.isis.unc.edu>
On Tue, 13 May 2003 ginseng@neo.rr.com wrote:
> In Feb, 4 yr old ferret started with chewing, foaming, mouth pawing,
> fits. Was taken to a ferret knowledgeable vet an hour away. BG was 72,
> weight 1.8#. CBC with chemistry panel didn't show any other problems.
<snip>
I hate to second-guess any previous decisions about the overall treatment,
but in an otherwise healthy 4 year old having this much trouble with
insulinoma, I would not hesitate to ask about surgery. If this vet simply
is not comfortable doing insulinoma surgeries, then perhaps it would be
worth looking around to see who else might be able to do it. I hate to
suggest more travel since you said you're already about at your max, but
if it was specifically for surgery, maybe it could be worth it. Where are
you located? Alternatively, maybe a non-ferret-expert vet with excellent
surgical skills could consult with a ferret expert vet and tackle it.
Without knowing the concentration of the compounded pred, it's hard to say
where you're at in the range of pred doses. Sometimes people report that
using prednisolone, for instance brand-name liquid Pediapred, rather than
regular prednisone will make a big difference for some ferrets.
Prednisone is converted to prednisolone in the liver, and maybe these
ferrets have a problem with the conversion... If there is to be no
surgery, that might be an option. You could also look into adding
Proglycem (diazoxide).
> Also, I'll be needing to make chicken gravy again soon. I don't have any
> extra chicken fat left. Is a meat or vegetable fat better to use? Or a
> combination of fats?
I leave the extra fat out entirely when I don't have it on-hand. I know
that it's part of the original recipe, but I haven't seen any problems.
Especially since your guy isn't skinny, I would not stress out about
skipping it. If you're really, really concerned about the ratio being off
without the extra fat, perhaps one way to deal with it would be to leave
out like 1/4 or so of the breast meat. It probably doesn't work out
exactly the same as adding the extra fat to the whole chicken, but it
might be fairly close...
Hope that helps a bit, best wishes,
-Pam S.