Message Number: SG13731 | New FHL Archives Search
From: Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2005-05-04 19:58:53 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Possibly insulinoma, what to do now?
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <20050504195853.3029.qmail@web50807.mail.yahoo.com>

Hi,

Having blood glucose checked regularly when you
suspect insulinoma is certainly a good idea. We would
fast our ferrets for an hour or two before to get a
more accurate reading. Don't fast your ferret longer
than that as fasting can cause blood sugar to drop.

Any time a ferret of mine had a seizure and went into
surgery insulinoma was NOT in the early stages even if
we had never noticed symptoms before. In each case
(our Ker Avon, Podo, and Kodo) our vet knew what part
of the pancreas to take by looking at it. In Avon's
case there were just a couple of large nodules and
surgery was probably curative. In the cases of Podo
and Kodo, both of whom were quite old when they had
insulinoma surgery, there were smaller insulinomae
spread through a much larger part of the pancreas.
Even in such cases removing part of the pancreas was
helpful for quite a long time.

Regarding your question about whether to continue with
your current vet or move to a more experienced ferret
vet: I always feel that ferret medicine is
specialized. Insulinoma is a serious illness
especially as you are considering surgery as a
treatment option I would certainly want to use a vet
that has significant experience with ferrets and with
that surgery.

All the best,
Caity and the fantastic five

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