From:
"Jeff"
Date: 2011-07-12 19:31:08 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Ferret diagnosis
To: <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
With insulinoma, the blood glucose levels can vary quite a bit thru the course of a day, and even more so if you are dealing with a carcinoma of the pancreas, which can be âdisguisedâ as insulinoma. You say that he is getting 2.5 mg of prednisolone daily, but is this once daily? Prednisolone for insulinoma is best divided into 3 doses daily, every 8 hours. The pred is usually metabolized in 8 or 9 hours, so if heâs only getting one dose daily, then he has 15 or 16 hours when he essentially has none in his bloodstream, which would cause the symptoms of insulinoma, such as lethargy, hind end weakness, and wasting due to not eating. Sometimes they are so weak from low blood glucose levels that even though they really need to eat, they canât.
Also, a diet of Hillâs A/D and Ensure is not a complete diet for a ferret. I would recommend that you make him a soup at least 3 times daily, at which time you also give him the prednisolone. Also leave kibble there at all times if he wants to eat between meals of soup. To make a simple soup, grind up some good ferret kibble and add some of the A/D, maybe some ensure, and some water, then heat in a microwave until warm, not too hot. It should be like a soup or thin gravy in texture.
Insulinomic ferrets need a regular intake of food and prednisolone around the clock, or else they will be prone to the symptoms that you are seeing, and also prone to seizures, which could kill them. Just seeing your ferret on weekends, and not providing him around the clock care, seem to be contributing greatly to his demise. Insulinoma is a progressive and sometimes aggressive disease that must be managed around the clock. I would highly recommend that you rearrange things so that these ferrets are with you all of the time, and not living somewhere that you visit on weekends. They will only worsen under this set up.
You might want to also consider getting an ultrasound done, to determine if there are other tumors or growths that are causing problems.
Jeff
In Loving Memory of Neo, Trinity, Morphy, Possum, Pip, Pop, Sabrina, Minnie Mouse, Hunny, Misty, Frodo, Baggins, and Mr. Parker
Caring for Luna, Baby Girl, Dozer, Boomer, and Zoomer
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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