From:
<caitlyn@mizuhoradio.com>
Date: 2003-11-05 16:55:03 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] RE: Minnie''''s Insulinoma
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <49380.155.226.255.42.1068051303.squirrel@www.mizuhoradio.com>
Hi, Anna, and everyone else,
> Minnie is 3 yrs old and she get's .20 mil 2 times a day at 7:00 and
> 7:00 and both Vet's wanted to try Meds. before surgery. I will take her
> with me on the 8th to Columbus when I take 2 other ferrets up there and
> have her checked out as well and ask again about surgery.
Our vet also does meds before surgery but only so long as the dosage remains
really small. By the time one of ours would need the dosage you describe (
and I'm assuming you mean .mg and not .ml since you were asked in
milligrams) he would have done surgery unless the ferret was a poor surgical
candidate.
Our vet is among a minority who believes surgery is never curative. He does
believe that doing surgery earlier rather than later extends the time
between surgeries but not total lifespan.
So far his theories of treatment have worked very well for our ferrets who
have developed insulinoma. Podo and Kodo developed the disease at age seven
and a half and went to surgery fairly quickly. Both are on pred again now
15-16 months later but are still doing much better than before surgery. He
also did surgery early on Ker Avon who developed the disease fairly young
(age three and a half) because he didn't seem to respond to pred. He's
still asymptomatic and on no meds almost two years later. Lady Ayeka, OTOH,
developed the disease at age three and has been treated medically only.
0.08ml per day of pediapred still keeps her blood glucose in the normal
range.
I realize that four ferrets is not a meaningful sample. I was really just
interested in sharing a different approach to insulinoma which, at least for
our weasels, has worked out well.
All the best,
Caity and the exuberant eight