Hello,
 
I currently have 3 great ferrets, and one is having a bit of trouble
that I am managing through a regiment of feeding, medications, and extra
playtime (and a good vet)... Could you guys take a moment to listen to my
situation, questions, and solutions and point me to any information that
may be helpful?  Thankx in advance.,.
 
First, a little background.  Sandy is a 4 1/2 year old female albino
who never had any real medical problems up to this point.  She did
occasionally have what I believed were "sleepy" periods (perhaps every
6 months throughout her lifetime I'd notice something), but everytime
I took her to the vet they gave her a clean bill of health.  She also
sometimes acted like she was in heat one a year or so, and then I'd bring
he in and get another clean bill of health...
 
Sandy likes sleeping in her hammock with my cat, and tunneling through a
room full of blankets, bedspreads, and open drawers for her pleasure.
  ----
 
Thursday the 24th she walked out of her hiding place after waking up and
passed out in front of me as if to say "daddy lets goto the emergency
room").  Luckily I was in vacation near an emergency Vet service and
brought her in minutes.  (BTW: one week earlier she had her rabies vax...
I wait 3 weeks before giving the distemper to try to avoid compounding
problems if an allergic reaction occurs)... She was heavily salivating,
and limp as possible.  I gently put her in her favorite carrying bag and
went over.  I brought my emergency pouch of snaks that she likes in case
she would need a shot or something - I have figured out that she almost
doesn't notice the discomfort when I feed her favorite snak while she is
getting a shot, etc.  Long story short - she had a Blood sugar of 29 and
was revived slowly over about an hour with sugar on her lips, etc.  On
our way in, when I opened the car door, she stood to attention to see
what was up, so I suspected that she was having some blood / energy
related problem.
 
The next few days I fed her every few hours with a mix of ferretone and
ferrevite (because she wouldn't eat anything else) until I realized that
ferrvite has corn syrup as its main ingredient... I read in the Ferret
FAQ that low blood sugar problems shouldn't be fed with high sugar
content because it causes the blood sugar to go even lower///
 
She acted great and had a sonogram? of her belly Thursday and the Vet
found no visible tumors on any organs.  So, what that means is we can't
see them yet, or something is simply wacko with her pancreas.
 
She was fine until Saturday Morning when I slept a few extra hours, and
she crashed again (not as bad as the first, but on the way)... my vet had
instructed me on how to revive her with rubbing corn syrup (caro syrup)
on her lips, and I did that and nursed her back to the living.  I forgot
the caro so used maple syrup, and she HATED the taste... but it worked (I
only used about a teaspoon or teaspoon and a half, and waited for about a
1/2 an hour while hugging her and keeping her confortable in her favorite
blanket.
 
I took her into the doctor Monday, after checking on her every 3-4 hours
24 hours per day, hoping we could try some medicine therapy to control
this problem.
 
I read all/most of the ferret mags and e-mails on Dr Bruce Williams page
searching on "blood sugar" and "insolonomia" (sp) and looked at the
pathology page entitled "top 50 things everyone should know"... etc
to try to become educated on the therapies available.  I even found
homeopathic remedies and something about brewer's yeast..  Sand doesn't
like that!  I am trying to find a formula that will trick her into eating
it, but the most important thing I seemed to hear about nutrition is to
give her foods rich with protein... (I bought tofu, but have yet to try
it - thankfully Sandy is eating her Marshall Farms ferret Food mashed up
and sometimes whole now ---)
 
So on Monday Sandy was started on Prednizone 5mg/ml SolutionRox, .8 ml 2
times per day and Proglycem (diazoxide) 10 mg 2 times a day (once before
9:00 am.  every morning.  Her symptoms changed overnight.  I still wake
her every 3-7 hours to feed her the pasty food mixture (and ferretone 8in1
and Marshall) but she is going to the food dish on her own and her wobbly
symtoms have not shown at all even though I slept a full 7.5 hours last
night.
 
I called the vet and he said to keep it up and we will do a glucose test
in 2 weeks to check things.  I am not certain she will make it in 2 weeks,
but I know she is at least "pretending" to be feeling well, being her old
creepy self...
 
my question is - how do I best manage her problem and give her the best
quality of life?  I will be brining her in regularly to check for the
tumor if it exists, but hope that the medications will continue to do
magic... are there multivitamins I should be adding?  Anti-oxidents to
attempt to fight any potential tumor?
 
I also am working on a system to get the medicine in her in under 3
minutes, because she doesn't enjoy the experience... I start with 4
vials ready mixed:
 
1. I administer a little mushy food she likes to coat her stomach and
   mouth to mask the tastes to come  (she laps this right up)
2. I administer the Proglycem (she likes this better than the next one)
3. I administer the Prednizone (yucky!)
4. I finish with 1 cc of ferretone to try to make her forget the
   experience (it helps, but she has her mouth clamped shut by this
   time - but she seems to ease up a bit)
 
I also am interested in knowing a regular vs excited vs danger zone heart
rate so I can put my ear to her chest and listen for distress...
 
I also am playing with her and giving her food from different containers
than the vials so she will not think I am always bad news!
 
please e-mail directly and post;;;
 
Mark Hei
[Posted in FML issue 3834]