From:
"MarieC_1059"
Date: 2007-11-02 01:09:38 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Young Kit with Hypoglycemia - a bit long - sorry
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Anyone ever heard of a young kit (6 months old) having
hypoglycemia? I read in one of my ferret vet books this can be
caused (in young kits) because of reduced intake/underproduction -
or by severe malnutrition or starvation. I don't have much history
on this little guy (other than he was going to be euthanized because
Petco didn't want to pay for surgery). I took him in - I can't see
such a young ferret not even have any chance at life. The best I
can come up with is that he wouldn't have been able to be sold until
he was about 1 1/2 months, he's been at Petco for the past 1 1/2
months, so for 2 months he was living elsewhere (in what condition -
unknown). About a month ago (around 9/17), Petco brought him to my
vet for general check - bloodwork showed glucose of 51, so they
assumed insulinoma and started on pediapred 1 ml/1x day. Tuesday
(10/30), he came in to my vet (my request after being called by a
vet tech) and his glucose was 39!! He was lethargic, but not as bad
as I would have suspected with it being so low. I brought him home
later that night (he had not eaten anything in the 5 hours I left
him at the vet's). When I got him home, I fed him some Chicken Soup
(basically Bob C's recipe minus the bones). He ate well! He also
had some AD. He didn't seem interested in hard kibble. That was
Tuesday. In the last two days, I've fed him numerous times and he
is eating hard kibble (TF/Purina DM) as well, and have also kept him
on Pediapred 5mg/5ml - I am splitting the pred dose into three
times/day (0.4, 0.3 and 0.3). He is not nearly as lethargic. But,
I'm still concerned about his glucose levels.
Whew - now that I've finished that extensive paragraph - DOES ANYONE
HAVE ANY IDEAS? Will he get better if it was only due to
malnutrition? I know I'll have to continually monitor his glucose,
but wanted to know if any vets or others have had this experience.
I cannot believe a kit that young could already have insulinoma!
Please let me know. You can also email me privately at
mariecooper@comcast.net.
Thanks in advance for any information you can provide!
Marie Cooper
Minnesota
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:ferrethealth-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:ferrethealth-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ferrethealth-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/