From:
"Susan Liszewski DVM"
Date: 2007-11-02 13:43:06 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Young Kit with Hypoglycemia - a bit long - sorry
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
I have seen this with ferrets that aren't eating due to a foreign
body obstruction. Unfortuately he was misdiagnosed for 2 weeks
elsewhere and by the time we did surgery his intestines were falling
apart. He made it thru surgery and we lost him the next day.
I find most ferrets under a year with low blood glucose and a poor
appetite have foreign body obstructions that are not detectable on x
ray and need surgery.
Hope this helps good luck.
Dr. Sue
--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, "MarieC_1059" <mariecooper@...>
wrote:
>
> 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@...
>
> Thanks in advance for any information you can provide!
>
> Marie Cooper
> Minnesota
>
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