From:
Caitlyn Martin
Date: 2010-03-15 13:00:03 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Ferret with past adrenal and pancreatic surgery now low BG - what course now?
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hi, Meryl,
There are two schools of thought on recurrence of insulinoma and I've
had excellent ferret verts who've come down on opposite sides of this.
Our original (now retired) vet would definitely have prescribed
prednisolone and controlled the insulinoma medically so long as a low
to moderate dose would do the job. He was reluctant to do insulinoma
surgery if medication would control the disease. While he would agree
with surgery advocates that the sooner the surgery is done the better
the liklihood of a positive long term result, he also believed that
the lifespan after diagnosis was roughly the same regardless of which
approach was used.
We had insulinoma recurrences in two older ferrets, both at age eight.
Obviously at that age you don't do surgery unless it's life or death.
In both cases prednisolone controlled their symptoms and gave them a
good quality of life. One of those ferrets lived another year and a
half.
Our current vet is aggressive when it comes to insulinoma surgery.
She believes surgery provides the best outcome in general.
Whether or not a second surgery can even be done depends on how much
of the pancreas was removed after the first surgery. Both vets in
question have done second insulinoma surgeries.
Sorry I can't give you a better answer. I have been fortunate in that
I've had excellent, experienced vets caring for my ferrets. I
generally trust the vet's judgment simply because the outcomes with my
ferrets have generally been good to excellent. YMMV...
The usual disclaimer applies: I am not a vet. I don't even play one
on TV. I'm just a moderately experienced ferret owner.
Good luck, whatever you decide.
All the best,
Caity and the terrific trio (Ella, Zephyr and Chin Soon)
[Verts? Is that a personal shortcut for Vets + expERTS?
:-) Moderator]
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