From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2004-01-18 02:21:19 UTC
Subject: RE: insulinoma
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <5756961.1074392479061.JavaMail.root@indium.smartgroups.com>
Insuolinoma is one of those things on which a LOT has been learned in the last two decades, but sadly many practitioners are way behind the times. I recall what was done about 20 years ago and some have not moved up with the mounting data.
Luckily, good vets like to learn.
Here is a GREAT place to start:
in
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
you will find an EXCELLENT PDF on insulinoma. It is clearly written, up to date, comprehensive. I highly recommend it.
If you go to the FHL Complete Archives at
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org
you will find many excellent past posts on insulinoma, including many by vets. These will help you and help others who want to learn.
In the Critical References at
http://www.ferretcongress.org you will find many vet written sites which include info on insulinoma, and there are also excellent sites like http://www.miamiferrets.org/fhc there which have some non-vet write-ups but also a number of marvelous ones by ferret expert veterinarians.
For those individuals for whom surgery is not possible we swear by Prednisolone (instead of Prednisone in case the liver isn't up to par), and for some also Diazoxide (though it pays to buy a small batch from a compounding pharmacy even if you have it shipped to you to test in the individual first just to find out if it works for that one). If it is insulinoma and not lymphoma or carcinoma we go high protein at first (just in case though as far as I know this is based on hypotheses rather than anything firm, so what Mike's vet recommends could even be optimal for all I know) and later add sugars when the disease is too advanced for the sugars to hold it, but if there is no med stick with sugar intake until there is medical control or surgery. For lymphoma or carcinoma we've left sugars in the food intake which seemed to help, but those two comprise a vanishingly small sample here so...