From:
"Roary"
Date: 2004-06-07 18:10:39 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] dizzy ferret
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <001b01c44cba$bd8c19c0$26a12344@digitalcmp5a4v>
What you can do now:
First off, you need to get Buddy in to an experienced vet if possible. You
need to confirm whether or not this is insulinoma, although I'm sure that
Mike is right ;) What you really want to avoid are those low blood sugar
episodes. They can do real damage. You can start feeding Buddy meat baby
food (or Bob Church's chicken gravy - http://www.trifl.org/gravy.shtml )
along with his kibble. If he doesn't particularly like just the meat baby
food you can put a ribbon of Nutrical on the top and stir it in. You can
also change meat flavors. Puff doesn't like turkey but loves the chicken for
some reason. We give Puff two jars a day - one jar twice daily, usually when
he gets up and in the evening. That won't cure it, but it will make sure
that your ferret will have extended carbs througout the day. You want to
avoid giving simple sugars to your ferret except in case of emergency.
Simple sugars, Nutrical, Karo syrup, ect. only last a little while in the
ferret's system. Proteins (as in the meat baby foods or the chicken gravy)
provide extended glucose levels.
Again, you want to make sure you avoid those low sugar episodes. They can do
real neurological damage over even short periods of time. There are tons of
information in the FHL archives about insulinoma. Here's a good site for
initial information - http://aferretfreak.crosswinds.net/insulinoma.htm
You also want to get your ferret on some kind of medication, usually on
Prednisone. This is also why you need to get to an experienced ferret vet.
He'll do a blood glucose level and decide where to go from there. Sometimes
insulinoma surgery can be done, but not always. Either way you want to put
some weight on Buddy, especially if he might have surgery. You might not be
able to put weight on Buddy until he gets on some kind of medication.
I'm not expert on this, but I just went through this. Plus, I'm a diabetic
myself ;) Puff had surgery but there were no pancreatic tumors. There was an
adrenal tumor (lima bean sized) and a possible lymphatic tumor which were
both removed. Puff is still insulinomic at this point.
We're debating on doing chemo treatments with doxorubicin, but I'm not sure
if we will. I just don't know that much about it and either does my vet,
although he knows of it. Does anybody have any experiences with doxorubicin
treatments? What are the side effects?
Roary
Albuquerque, NM