From:
mjanke@miamiferret.org
Date: 2004-01-17 11:53:11 UTC
Subject: RE: insulinoma
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <6889770.1074340391849.JavaMail.root@indium.smartgroups.com>
Usually, sugar is reserved for ferrets that are at maximum levels of medication and still need further help to keep their blood glucose levels up. However, on the recommendation of a very well know ferret vet, I always gave mine a 1" ribbon of nutrical with meals twice a day. But they cannot live on Nutrical alone.
Sometimes after surgery for insulinoma, ferrets have transient HIGH glucose levels, though I think this primarily occurs with partial pancreatectomy and not just tumor removal, but don't quote me on that. I don't think you said what kind of surgery Kodo had. In any case, you said she checked and his glucose was low, not high, so that doesn't seem to be a concern. Regular monitoring of his glucose levels is a good idea.
I'm not sure why he's drinking a lot of water. Has complete bloodwork been done? I haven't found excessive water intake to be the case with my ferrets that had insulinoma. Also, if he's only eating Nutrical, I would expect his stools would not be normal.
I'd ask the vet why she doesn't put Kodo on prednisone to help keep his blood glucose levels up. This will also improve his appetite. In the meantime, he cannot live on Nutrical. Get yourself some chicken baby food to supplement him until you can get him feeling better. Check out this link on supplemental feeding...
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/babyfood.html and keep in mind that not eating may also contribute to low glucose levels.
mike
Author wrote:
> All she told me to do was to give him NutiCal 3 x a day. She did not put him on any kind of medication. Now, I've noticed that Kodo is not eating his food. He will still take the NutiCal, but he is also drinking a lot of water. I also don't think his bowel movements are normal. What should I do?