Message Number: FHL10922 | New FHL Archives Search
From: "Jeff"
Date: 2010-02-07 20:40:02 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: 7 year old Ferret with Insulinoma and meds are not working like they use to
To: <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>

Here is the prior post I referred to.

Jeff



From: merylfaulkner
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, January 18, 2010 7:30 PM


Re dosages of pred. for insulinoma. Two years ago I posted a query on prednisone daily doses and got a comment from Dr Bruce Williams (see end of this post).

That response from Dr Williams helped me with my past and current situation with some elderly ferrets. I currently have two nearly 8 y old female ferrets I "adopted" six months ago from my veterinarian who had accepted them from a client in dire straits. The females weigh 1.8 and 2.0 pounds respectively. and get 2.5 mg (1/2 5mg tab) twice daily (I queried her - seemed a lot - she said it was high, but they were doing well on it).

A male - Sandy- I took in 9 months ago(age -"thought" to be 6)after surgery for removal of both adrenal and pancreatic tumors, ended up also on 2.5mg twice daily after starting low (, and working up and adding diazoxide (he weighs 3.2 pounds).

She starts ferrets (who have already had pancreatic surgery and are older), on a low dose of pred, then increases the dose over a period of weeks until the blood glucose level gets to normal range and the animal becomes stable. Currently these three are holding pretty steady, but they are also getting diazoxide twice daily along with the twice daily pred. Sandy, the male, is doing well on the prednisolone (2.5mls of a 1 mg per ml solution) but the girls will not take the liquid - grape flavor - even mixed in gerbers chicken so I pill them. I still worry about the high doses, but here is the post from Dr Williams:

In message FHL 2551 in 2007 from Dr Williams -

"Is there an upper limit to prednisone? Technically no, although high
doses for a long time are often associated with muscle wasting and
excessive deposition of fat (known as pred belly). I have used up to
5mg/lb in cases of lymphoma without horrible side effects, but that is
always a short-term issue, and would not want to try it for a year or
more. If someone is hitting 2 mg/lb/day, I generally strongly suggest
that they look at a surgical option, either nodulectomy, or partial
pancreatectomy."

The 2 females are at 2.5mg per pound per day, Sandy is still at 1.7mg/pound/day, but repeat surgery does not seem a good option for any of them. I suspect without the diazoxide it would have to be higher. Bonnie I thought had "pred belly" but the veterinarian at our last visit on palpation suspects she has lymphoma.

Meryl



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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