From:
DonRull@aol.com
Date: 2006-06-21 01:16:58 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Insulinoma unresolved after surgery...advice requested.
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Please reply to _donrull@aol.com_ (mailto:donrull@aol.com) as my e-mail
filter sometimes does not allow mailings from smartgroups.
I have a 6-7 year old female ferret who had shown signs of Insulinoma for at
least a year now. I am proficient at testing blood glucose at home and have
been able to adequately control her glucose levels using Prednisone and hand
feedings of duck soup since I first discovered she had an issue. About 2
months ago it became very difficult for me to get her BG to stay up, even with
feedings 4x per day.
We decided to have surgery to remove the likely cause, a tumor. We have an
excellent vet, Dr. [Name removed as per FHL rules],
who performed the surgery but he was unable to
find any mass to remove for the Insulinoma and felt it could be very small
masses spread throughout the organ which would not be able to be removed. He
was able to remove an adrenal tumor, so the surgery was not a complete waste.
Before the surgery, she was on anywhere from .75 to 1.25 cc's per day of
Prednisone (5mg/5ml) plus dextrose and glucose supplementation.
After surgery, Dr. wanted me to take her off from Prednisone so the
steroids would not interfere with her recovery. He had me give her .25 cc's of
Diazoxide 2-3 times per day instead of the Prednisone. Although she has now
recovered very well from the surgery, her BG is still almost impossible to
keep up and has become more difficult the more active she is. I test her BG
3-4x per day before feedings. With her duck soup, I provide extra water, a
full tablet of Dex 4 glucose, and 2 cc's of Karo Syrup at almost every feeding
in addition to .25 cc's of Diazoxide and .25 cc's or more of Prednisone yet
her BG drops to anywhere from 30-45 by the next feeding time (6-8 hours). She
also has gotten slightly dehydrated and I have been able to address this by
giving her subQ fluids.
My question(s) are:
Can anyone offer advice about how much Prednisone would be too much? Or
possibly some other medication or approach to try that I have not yet tried? In
regards to her dehydration, she is getting a ton of fluids with each
feeding. Would it help to use something else instead of water with her soup to help
stop her from dehydrating? I've used Pedialyte in the past but it did not
seem much better than water for regular use.
Thanks!
Don
====================================================================<<<
Orange Broadband click below:
http://ads.smartgroups.com/adclick/CID=000000b7c79a99a500000000
====================================================================>>>
--
If you want to share pictures, use the calendar, or start a vote
visit http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
To leave the group, email: ferrethealth-unsubscribe@smartgroups.com
Report abuse http://www.smartgroups.com/text/abusereport.cfm?gid%3D1423922&mid%3D17619