While an insulin is helpful in some cases, it does not necessarily rule in
or out an insulinoma.  Insulin release from these tumors may be sporadic,
and the finding of a normal insulin level only means that levels were not
elevated at the precise moment in which the animal was bled.
 
Regarding treatment - surgery is always the first alternative, provided the
ferret is not geriatric and a poor surgical candidate.  There are several
approaches, including nodulectomy, or partial pancreatectomy, or both.  The
third option has the best results, with ferrets having up to a year free of
clinical signs (the equivalent of ten years in your life.) Additionally,
tumors tend to recur only in about 40% of cases, so a cure is certainly not
out of the question.  Metastasis to other sites is actually almost unheard
of, especially if surgery is preformed early on.
 
Medical treatment, (prednisone and proglycem) should be reserved only for
non-surgical candidates and animals recovering from surgery.  I think that
a 6-12 month survival time is relatively pessimistic, provided surgical
and medical options are explored at appropriate times.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP
 
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[Posted in FML issue 3420]