Hello,
 
A few months ago I decided to get a friend for my ferret "Shadow".  With
the help of a friend (who also reads this list, you know who you are "HI").
 
At the beginning of August I adopted Sam.  Sam came from a free roam
household with 9 other ferrets, he is 3 going on 4 and was fed, to my
opinion, a lower quality food.  From what I could see he was well cared
for and loved.
 
He is 100% litter trained and really sweet, and pretty much free roamed
here too since he is so well behaved when he is out.
 
When I received Sam (after falling madly in love with him)I noticed that he
was VERY mellow, a bit to much for my taste.  This was also noticed by the
person that got him for me and she also noticed that it seemed that his
kidneys were much lower down that her other 6 ferts, so before she gave him
to me she has blood work done on him and his glucose was 68 (vet said that
was a low normal).  When I got him I also noticed that he sleeps a lot, he
only stays up for about 45 minutes or less and then sleeps for another 8
to 12 hours.  He is very slow when he walks, he doesn't care to play with
anything or anyone (although he is getting along with my other fert pretty
good and he did hold his own when Shadow tried to dominate him), I have
never heard him dook or vocalize in any way or ever get remotely excited
about anything.  He can't climb, he even has trouble with the ramps in
his cage.This seems very odd to me so when I took him to my vet I told him
about all this and also gave him the test results from the blood work done
on him.  My vet was worried about the low blood glucose and said what I
suspected, "we should do further testing for insulinoma".  So, I did a
fasting blood glucose and insulin test today, I will hear back by
Wednesday.
 
All I want to know is: does anyone else have a mellow fert like this that
does not have insulinoma?  I know 68 is low for Glucose but could it be
because he was fed low quality food?  I feed him Totally Ferret.
 
He doesn't have signs like drooling or staring or loss of weight (actually
I think he is a bit overweight).  He does eat and drink like a champ.  But
he does sleep too much and seems like he is living in slow motion.  I don't
think he is old enough to be acting like this but I don't have experience
with older ferts since mine is 9 months old and acts like he drinks 10
espressos a day.  I would welcome any suggestions or someone telling me I
am over reacting.  :-)
 
Things like this makes me glad I have you all around to ask questions and
for support.
 
-M
[Posted in FML issue 3516]