From:
Cjbandit@aol.com
Date: 2003-05-24 13:15:02 UTC
Subject: Bandit..emergency...diazoxide not working/fat making it hard to breathe
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <1df.9954f26.2c00ca56@aol.com>
Hi,
I am in desperate need of some help for Bandit...
We started him on the diazoxide along with the pred about two days ago.
The night before last- he was laying on my chest and having a difficult time
breathing...he was opening his mouth a little and making funny sounds- like
he was gasping for air- I thought maybe this was what was meant by foaming at
the mouth when they have seizures.
My husband and I immediately put the karo syrup on q-tips and applied it to
his gums. He kept pawing at his mouth profusely and seemed so uncomfortable.
We then followed up with his meds and some babyfood. The whole night we
watched him closely- and he was very weak that night- so we decided to take him to
the vet the next day and leave him there for the day to be monitored.
The vet did another ultrasound on his abdomen and confirmed that is was full
of fat- and that he was up to 5lbs..the fat is pushing on his lungs and other
organs and making it difficult for him to breathe.
His blood sugar was very low 40 and my vet reccomended uping the diazoxide
from (.20)- 2x a day to (.30) 2x a day-
he also wants me to ween him off of the babyfood and put him on a kitten
food- he mentioned purina kitten or eukanuba- I don't understand I didn't think
the babyfood was that fatning??
anyway I did read somewhere on this post that a ferret should eat about 1
ounce of food a day- and Bandit gets about 2.5 jars of babyfood a day and each
jar is 2 ounces???
I always thought it was important to make sure he got enough protein to
counteract the insulinoma or help maintain his blood sugar.
The vet also said to continue with the Karo syrup on his gums 3x a day- and
when I asked for how long...he said it could be for the rest of his life. I'm
confused I thought this was a quick fix for an emergency situation not be used
on a constant basis...
My vet wants to recheck his sugar in two weeks and see how he is doing.
Bandit has only been on the diazoxide for three days now but he continues to have
attacks and I'm wondering how long it takes before you see the benefits of the
medicine if it does work for the ferret??
My baby seems like he's suffering so much- I don't know what to do for him
anymore its killing me inside....Please help
Cristina