From:
"Hadji"
Date: 2004-08-27 03:44:08 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Hoppy
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <GT3CK.31534LZ3@comcast.net>
This was my experience with my first and only insulinoma surgery on a 5 yea=
r old male albino. The islet tumors were microscopic and probably scattered=
throughout the whole pancreas so the insulinoma benefits were nil (this ha=
ppens sometimes). No tumors were big enough to be seen or removed... HOWEVE=
R, my doc took out a possible lymphatic tumor and a massive adrenal tumor. =
The ferret didn't have any adrenal symptoms.
The moral of the story: I think it's worth doing the surgery if your ferret=
is in good enough health to survive the surgery. You never know what a goo=
d vet's going to find and possibly be able to treat.
Puffy (my albino) has responded fairly well to Prednisone but it will event=
ually stop working. He's about 6 now, so when we start the other meds (forg=
et the name off the top of my head) he'll be able to possibly live out a no=
rmal Marshall Farms ferret's lifespan if we're really lucky.
Diet is real important to insulinomic ferrets. Puff gets 2 to 3 jars of mea=
t baby food a day and has put on a lot of weight. You can feel how solid he=
is when you pick him up. We only notice slight incidences of low blood sug=
ar symptoms, usually when he first wakes up. Being almost 6 he's fairly act=
ive, but we see signs of him slowing down.
It's kind of hard to deal with the knowledge of what's coming, but that's p=
art of owning a ferret I guess. We'll do whatever it is we need to do to ke=
ep him going and comfortable.
Roary
Albuquerque, NM
---------- Original Message ----------
To: (ferret-list@cunyvm.cuny.edu)
From: William M. Davidson (grateful@nmia.com)
:Generally speaking, is surgery still the recommended treatment?
:
:Approximately, what would be the life expectancy of a pediapred/food
:treatment verses surgery?
:
:I would be very grateful to hear any experience of insulinoma
:with your fuzzy. Thanks in advance for taking the time
:to write to me.
:
:--
:William M. Davidson
:grateful@nmia.com