From:
AFERRETVET@cs.com
Date: 2004-12-17 00:01:10 UTC
Subject: Re:Insulinomas and sugar
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <1de.30b540af.2ef37bc6@cs.com>
Hi Sukie,
Sukie what study are you using when you say
insulinomas are not responsive to dietery sugars?
In dogs and people insulinomas are responsive
to dietry sugars. A new article called: A nutritional approach
to the prevention of insulinomas in the pet ferret (in the
Journal of exotic mammal medicine & surgery) describes
how dietery sugars and carbohydrates cause insulinomas
and should be avoided in ferrets with insulinomas.
(JEMM&S, volume 2.2, Dec 2004, By Dr Mark Finkler)
As we know when we treat insulinoma ferrets with seizure
activity, when you give too much dextrose IV you do get
a yo-yo effect with the glucose level going up then crashing
back down again. I am pretty sure the same thing is happening
with ingested sugar and carbohydrates. Thus it is better to
supplement insulinoma ferrets with a high protien, high fat
item (ie Gerber's 2nd stage chicken/turkey baby food, Hill's
a/d, meat, eggs, etc). Ferrets can use amino acids from the
protein to make glucose and use the fat to make glycerol.
Jerry Murray, DVM