Message Number: FHL13754 | New FHL Archives Search
From: "Jeff"
Date: 2011-08-05 04:44:07 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Insulinoma...
To: <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>

I have a few things Id like to put out there for you to consider, in consultation with your vet:

1) Instead of giving the pred twice daily, divide the daily dosage into three and give it every 8 hours. Ive done this for all of my insulinomic ferrets and found it makes a big difference.

2) If you do opt for surgery, there was a study done by Dr. Bruce Williams, Dr. Charlie Weiss, and someone else, the conclusion of which is: Removing any visible nodules AND removing part of the pancreas produced the longest expected life span after insulinoma surgery. I used to have the abstract but can’t find it right now. It might be in the FHL archives.

3) If he is on 3 mg of pred daily, and still in the 50 range as far as his blood glucose level, then there is a good chance that this is not just™ insulinoma. Pred should be able to keep his BG level in the ˜normal range of 80 – 120. Living with BG levels in the 50s leaves him prone to seizures and a low quality of life. Ive experienced similar situations twice with relatively young ferrets like yours, and each time it was suspected/concluded that it was a carcinoma of the pancreas. Unfortunately, this acts like extremely aggressive insulinoma, and may result in only a few remaining weeks or months of time for your little one. One of my girls, Minnie Mouse, first started showing signs of insulinoma last August, and by October I had to put her to sleep. I did not try surgery, but was aggressive with her meds, but it still progressed extremely rapidly. She also had relatively rapid weight gain during that time. Another boy, Neo, had an ˜angry looking tumor removed from his pancreas, and although he recovered well from the surgery, it apparently grew back, as he only had 7 more weeks with me post-surgery.

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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