Message Number: FHL9694 | New FHL Archives Search
From: "zooey@btinternet.com"
Date: 2009-08-18 10:41:33 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] =?iso-8859-1?q?Insulinoma_crisis_=96_Ferret_vet_on_holiday?=
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com

Hello there. We've been keeping ferrets for about 20 years and currently ha=
ve 13 living free range in a converted downstairs bedroom. One rescued hob,=
probably about 5 years old was diagnosed with insulinoma about 2 or 3 mont=
hs ago. I need to explain at this point that we live in the UK and treatmen=
t can be quite different to what you may be used to in America. Our local v=
et is a large practice and very good with a wide range of pets, but they ar=
e not ferret specialists. However, we are lucky to have one of the finest f=
erret vets in the country only an hour away and we use her for anything mor=
e than a minor problem. Although she has done a handful of operations to re=
move the nodules on the pancreas, on the whole she hasn't had any success a=
nd she felt it wasn't really an option, although the offer would still be a=
vailable. The biggest problem is that she is now away until 1st September a=
nd although I've approached two other vet practices, no-one can help.

Tippex was initially put on one 1mg tablet of prednisolone once a day, but =
very quickly we realised it wasn't enough and we started him on one tablet =
twice a day. That too didn't last long and we found him regularly off his l=
egs, staring or drooling =96 not a total hypo, but we couldn't leave him in=
that state so we've been topping him up with liquid glucose. Yes =96 I am =
aware of the spike this can cause later, but we discussed this with the vet=
and she agreed we couldn't do much else. I got back to her recently and sh=
e had just heard about a "new" treatment. Over here the tablets are called =
Eudemine and the drug is diazoxide, but I understand it's something you've =
been using in America for some time. She couldn't give too much advice, but=
suggested we stop the prednisolone and start with =BC of a 50mg Eudemine t=
ablet twice a day. We did that for about 3 days and then noticed a deterior=
ation as Tippex had no energy at all. He got up for breakfast, but just cra=
wled straight back to bed afterwards. At this time I was worried about the =
new drug and side effects, so I was wary of increasing the dose too soon. B=
y the weekend he was even worse and we were either topping him up with gluc=
ose or feeding him a high calorie food containing sugar. It was at this poi=
nt that I rang two emergency vets, but nobody could help. By this time I ha=
d increased the dose of the diazoxide to =BD a tablet twice a day. I did ma=
nage to get some blood to test (we have a diabetic cat and regularly test a=
t home) and his blood glucose was down to a scary 1.6 (sorry, I don't know =
the US conversion, but normal should be 4.7).

I did a bit of searching on the internet and found this group and noted tha=
t a lot of people seem to use diazoxide with prednisolone, so I started Tip=
pex back on the pred and kept the dose of the diazoxide at =BD a tablet twi=
ce a day. The following morning (yesterday), he was a different ferret. He =
started carrying the toys away and played with the other ferrets. I read a =
bit more yesterday lunch time and thought we ought to reduce the dose of th=
e diazoxide because the side effects seem to be fairly common. He was back =
to =BC last night and again this morning, but by the time we'd finished cle=
aning their room he was drooling and off his legs again. We did more glucos=
e and gave him another =BC Eudemine and after ten minutes he looked a lot b=
etter. I popped him back in his room and we had to come to work. Obviously =
we can't carry on this way, but we're pretty much on our own for the next t=
wo weeks until our ferret vet is back from holiday. Can anyone help please?





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