From:
Motor City Ferrets
Date: 2012-02-09 17:12:32 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Re: Vanadyl Sulfate for Insulinoma
To: "ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com" <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
I have to disagree, Mike. Here's an example:
I boarded a little grannie for 2 weeks. She had adrenal at the time and during her stay, we diagnosed her for insulinoma. She got into a down spell and that's why we suspected, so she needed nursing to get back on her feet. When she went home she'd been on pred for a week and round the clock nursing; she had just started to eat kibble again. Our vet wrote the owner a prescription so they could either see him or go to their own vet and we discussed management and the need for continued nursing and so forth when they came to fetch gran. We then communicated via e-mail for the next couple of weeks until she was back on her feet, running around well and eating plenty on her own.
Fast forward to about a year after this incident. I get an e-mail from this family:they're moving, they "can't take the ferret" (that old song and dance...I'll never understand) and since she has two diseases no one wants her, so unless I want her they're just going to kill her. Of course I took her in. Here's the kicker: at some point during this year when they decided they didn't want her anymore, they just stopped giving her the pred and started not ever letting her out of her cage. Yep. No meds, obviously no support, and no fitness because she wasn't coming out of her cage. They were cagey about how long this had gone on, but I reckoned at least 3-6 months.
Now when gran arrived she was bald from untreated adrenal, but otherwise her weight was great and she was frisky! I couldn't believe it...she had crashed so hard around the time of diagnosis, ??? But that's where she was. Of course I started her back on the meds and support and, other than the social issues that come with a gal who has always lived alone and finds herself at the Shelter at age 7 with her history, she is still doing well today.
Insulinoma is a wacky illness. I think regular meals do as much to manage as the pred, but that doesn't mean I'm saying skip the pred: both are important weapons in the overall arsenal. Point is you can have one ferret that doesn't seem to have much trouble with their insulioma, then another that is very troubled, then another than can just skip meds or support for a long time and survive...then others that arrive in such bad shape I can't get meds into them fast enough. Then of course there's the phenom that I run into all the time: critter is running around, feeling fine, weight is great, but its' time for a screening test: critter reads in the 50's! And my meter is testing properly!:)
Nanci
Motor City Ferrets
www.motorcityferrets.org
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