From:
"Lucie Darkes"
Date: 2003-05-14 19:35:59 UTC
Subject: insulinoma - HELP
To: "FHL" <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>, <ginseng@neo.rr.com>
Message-ID: <3257539.1052946109983.JavaMail.nobody@magnesium>
Hi there,
I can appreciate your struggles with keeping an insulinomic ferret stable.
Merlin (almost 8 years old) has had this disease for going on three years now.
He too stopped eating regular ferret food long ago and is sustained on Chicken
Gravy. I used to make it without any added TF, to keep down the carbs as Bob
C. recommended. About a couple months ago, Merlin began having really bad
hypoglycemic episodes, to the point that he actually had a seizure one day. I
increased his pred and his diazoxide dosages, but nothing was helping. My vet
suggested trying to add some kibble back into his diet to increase his complex
carb. intake. It had never occurred to me to do this -- kind of one of those
obvious thing that you overlook I guess. Since the Chicken Gravy is basically
protein and fat, it won't increase a blood glucose that is low. Carbs are needed
to do that. I've started adding a teaspoon of ground up TF to each serving of
gravy that Merlin has. Let me tell you this has made a world of difference. He
has not had a hypoglycemic episode since I started this, whereas he was
previously having them at least once daily. He is definitely enjoying a much
better quality of life. I don't know if this will be helpful to you or not, but I
thought I'd share.