From:
AFERRETVET@cs.com
Date: 2003-10-05 21:40:53 UTC
Subject: Re: Insulinoma?/new food
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <151.24efeb60.2cb1e9e5@cs.com>
Hi everybody,
Since there were some insulinoma questions,
I will give you my thoughts on insulinoma. I do think
they are a result of the diet. Most ferret and kitten foods
have a high carbohydrate level (22-30%). A rat diet only
has 1.2% carbohydrate and a mouse diet only has 4%
carbohydrate. Thus we are feeding way too much carbs
(22-30% instead of only 1-5%)! This does not even include
the high carbohydrate treats (raisins, etc) that a lot of owners
feed there ferrets. I believe this high carbohydrate diet stimulates
the pancreas after every meal to make insulin to handle all
of the carbohydrates. With this chronic overstimulation the beta
cells of the pancreas become insulinomas. Thus most ferrets
are at risk for this cancer and may eventually develop it.
There is a new diet that is coming out soon from Pretty Bird
that contains 50% protein and less than 10% carbohydrate
(roughly 5%). It is called Natural Gold for Ferrets. This may
become the diet of choice for ferrets with insulinoma and
the diet of choice to prevent insulinomas!
Will surgery "cure" insulinoma? That depends on how much
of the pancreas is removed, if there is any cancerous cells
still remaining in the pancreas, and will the underlining problem
(in my opinion that is the diet) cause more insulinomas to form.
So it varies a lot based on each ferret, but I think 40% being cured
by surgery is too high of an estimate.
Hope that helps,
Jerry Murray, DVM