From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2007-09-01 17:55:52 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: pediapred question
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Okay, so the basics:
Your ferret:
glucose: 62 after a 5 hour fast.
2 1/2 lb weight
5mg/5ml. Give 1 ml twice a day
Notice what units mg/kg you have to get to
to know how that dose compares:
>From _Essentials of Ferrets, a Guide for
Practitioners_ by Karen Purcell, 1999:
0.1 - 2.5 mg/kg q 12-24 h PO
_Ferrets, Rabbits, and Rodents, clinical medicine
and surgery_, Katherine Quesenberry and
James Carpenter, 2004:
0.5 - 2.0 mg/kg q 12 - 24 h PO
_Ferret Husbandry, Medicine and Surgery_,
John Lewington, 2007:
0.10 -2.5 mg/kg s.i.d. b.i.d. p.o.
Notice the amount is in the milligram per
kilogram of the ferret's weight.
One milligram per each milliliter means the
ferret is getting one milligram at that
concentration each time.
one pound is 0.4535923699997481kg
so -- saving time by using a converter
http://www.convertunits.com/from/kilogram/to/pounds
a 2.5 pound ferret weighs about 1.13 kilograms, so
let's just think of it as a tad over 1 kilogram. Your ferret
is easy to calculate for because the weight is about
1 kg and the concentration of the med you got is 1 mg
per ml.
ml is a volume measurement just quarts, or cups, or teaspoon
or gallon. It says how much of the liquid is being given, but
by itself it doesn't say how much of the med is being given.
When you know the concentration you can then figure out how
much med is being given. That is just gotten by dividing the
mg number by the ml number in the concentration. For example
with 1 mg per ml you have 1 divided by 1 or 1 mg of med. With
5 mg divided by 5 ml you also have answer of one.
if you instead had a concentration that read 2 mg/ml then you
would have 2 divided by 1 so in each ml given there would be
2 mg of med.
Then take you mg number (in your case at the current dose it
is one mg twice a day) and divide it by your ferret's weight
which is your case is conveniently close enough to 1 kilogram
to be called "1" and your ferret is getting
1mg (amount in weight of the med) of the med per kilogram (of
ferret body weight) twice a day.
So, again: You are giving 1 mg/kg q 12h (which means every
12 hours = twice a day) PO (orally)
>From _Essentials of Ferrets, a Guide for
Practitioners_ by Karen Purcell, 1999:
0.1 - 2.5 mg/kg q 12-24 h PO
_Ferrets, Rabbits, and Rodents, clinical medicine
and surgery_, Katherine Quesenberry and
James Carpenter, 2004:
0.5 - 2.0 mg/kg q 12 - 24 h PO
_Ferret Husbandry, Medicine and Surgery_,
John Lewington, 2007:
0.10 -2.5 mg/kg s.i.d. b.i.d. p.o.
Notice the amount is in the milligram per
kilogram of the ferret's weight which is what
we worked to get with a little simple division
and a metric converter site.
1 mg/kg is pretty much in the middle of the dose
range so is on the high side for a starting dose
unless the vet has a special reason to give that
much (something for you to ask in a phone call
so that you understand it)
Also, a 5 hour fast is a LONG fast for a ferret.
5 hours without food or treats will itself lower the
blood sugar so 62 after a long fast is no where
near a worrisome as 62 without a fast. Without a
fast 62 would indicate the possibility of insulinoma
which had gotten pretty well advanced, but with
a 4 hour fast 65 is listed at the low end of the
acceptable range in a blood results table by
Dr. Susan Brown (See link below and quotes.) so
for a 5 hour fast 65 might indicate insulinoma BUT
it might be in the normal range, instead.
That fasting time combined with the test result also
says the amount may be on the high side to start
unless the vet has other reasons for doing that.
Now, did the blood get sent out for results and how
long did it take for them to check it? Ferret blood
tends to gobble up sugars while it is waiting to be
tested, so the more time between when the blood
was taken and when it was tested the lower the
remaining portion of the sugar that was there when
the blood was first taken.
If it was sent out then that also might way that a full
mg twice a day might be on the high side for
starting, again unless the vet has a reason for doing
so which isn't in the basic material above.
In
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/physiology.htm
notice that
BEGIN QUOTE
1. Blood glucose
Glucose is a sugar, the main energy source for the body.
It is controlled by the amount of insulin in the blood. Its
level varies through the day, higher just after a meal,
lower when the ferret hasn't eaten. A non-fasted blood
glucose test might give values up to 207 mg/dl, depending
on when the ferret last ate. Testing the blood glucose after
withholding food from the ferret for 4 hours (fasting blood
glucose) eliminates the variation and gives you a more definite
number. A low reading (hypoglycemia) may be a sign of insulinoma .
A high reading (hyperglycemia) is rare and might be a sign of diabetes.
Diabetes is rare in ferrets and, insulinoma can also cause a high glucose
reading. You should double-check any diabetes diagnosis by looking for
sugar in the urine as well.
Note that was added (by a website owner?): Fasting a ferret that is
suspected of insulinoma is NOT recommended.
...
1Glucose (fasted) (mg/dl)
110 [mean = average]
65-164 [acceptable range with a 4 hour fast]
END QUOTES
IMPORTANT when you answer the other questions here:
What led to the testing and what other tests were done.
***** I think that you should leave a message for your vet
to call you back at the vet's convenience to discuss this.*****
What other tests were done? What are the symptoms?
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
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