From:
AFERRETVET@cs.com
Date: 2004-01-04 04:03:50 UTC
Subject: Re: Diabetes/vaccines
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <148.1fe4f48c.2d28eaa6@cs.com>
Hi Tiffany,
Sounds like you have 3 big questions:
1) the safest way to remove a skin growth in a
diabetic ferret,
2) how do I get her diabets under control, and
3) will diabetes cause vaccine reactions.
1) The best way of doing surgery on a ferret (in my opinion)
is to mask them down with gas (SEVO or Iso) and keep them
on gas for the surgery. Removing a skin growth usually does not
take long, so I would recommend removing the growth.
Obviously getting her glucose level stabilized before the surgery
would be the top concern.
2) Blood glucose ranging from 20 to 395 is uncontrolled diabetes.
You said you were using Lente insulin (L). Lente insulin is an
intermediate acting insulin made up of 30% regular (R) insulin and
70% ultralente insulin (U). It usually only last for 6-8 hours in cats,
and it is not a good choice. PZI insulin is a much better choice!
Since Slinky has had her left adrenal gland, it is certainly
possible that her right gland is now overproducing hormones
that could be actually causing her diabetes. Is she showing any
adrenal signs now? Either way I would recommend Lupron!
3) Diabetes will not cause vaccine reactions, but I would suggest
premedicating with Benadryl to help lower her stress level when
she is vaccinated. Has she had vaccine reactions in the past?
Happy New Year,
Jerry Murray, DVM