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>Have you seen any success with insulinoma surgery done this late in life
>even if the disease is caught early? Does surgery make sense in an
>eight year old ferret? Can I reasonably expect to buy them another good
>year or two by doing this surgery? If so, it's worthwhile. I just have
>doubts. Knowing me, I'll probably end up trusting our vet's judgement
>as always, but I really want some input from those who have been through
 
Dear X:
 
I get this question fairly often, and it is always a difficult one to
answer.  The first thing that I would say is that we shouldn't judge a
ferrets surgical candidacy by chronological age - I have seen many healthy
7 or 8 year olds, as well as a couple of broken down 2 year olds.  Every
ferret should evaluated for surgical procedures based on its clinical
appearance, rather than what day it was born.
 
The question of how much time you will buy is also a difficult one to
answer.  I often put it this way - if you assume that a month for a ferret
is about a year for a human, and if someone told you that you had a tumor
and if it was removed you stood an excellent chance of an additional 8-10
years without disease, would you do it?  That is what an 8-10 month
disease free post-surgical interval means to a ferret.
 
Will this ferret be overtaken by another disease shortly after a
successful insulinoma surgery, only to succumb to heart disease, lymphoma,
or something else entirely different?  I can't tell you, but the odds are
significantly higher than you would see with a 5 year old.
 
At my house, animals that need the surgery get it regardless of their age.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 3840]