Phyllis wrote:
>Years prior, I had one ferret that didn't make it past 48 hrs. of
>a partial pancreatectomy procedure, but more recently, another male,
>sable ferret lived to 10 yrs.  old, and was diagnosed with insulinoma
>at age 6 yrs.
 
Did the one who didn't make it develop A/V Node Block?  That is a rare
heart complication of insulinoma itself.  There is some info on the
topic in the FML Archives (See the header of any day's FML to find this
excellent and easily searched archive, a treasure i use regularly.), also
a compilation (but not up to date so supplement it with info found by
searching on http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org which is another treasure).
 
Anyway, here is where the compilation is, complete with consultation
info: http://www.smartgroups.com/vault/ferrethealth/heartblock.txt
 
and Phyllis also said:
>I treated him with a potent antioxidant supplement (listed in the
>physician's PDR, and approved by the FDA), and Pred
 
Please, give more details: name, dosing, cautions and conflicts if you
know what they are, etc.  We have a ferret who is not a surgical
candidate so the antioxidant name and dosing info might help her because
we can always look up the rest to see if it is worth a try for her.
(Reading up is always a good thing to do with any type of treatment.)
 
Just an FYI: albinos lack pigment so they don't have black eyes, but have
shades of pink - red (ruby), though not the garnet (very dark red eyes
which have some pigment -- kind of like burgundy wine shades) and not
black eyes.  (Can you tell who grew up with a gemologist?) Whites with
dark eyes containing some pigment are DEW (Dark Eyed Whites) instead of
albinos.  There is some GREAT stuff on albino and other forms of color
deletion or reduction (including spotting and also neural crest
disorders) by geneticist, Brett Middleton, (and also fine stuff from
geneticist Leigh Whittacker (check my spelling) in the archives of
Ferret-Genetics at Yahoogroups (but I do NOT know the URL off-hand and
hope someone else will supply it), and also posts by Brett Middleton in
both of the archives mentioned in relation to the A/V heart node block
info above in this post.
 
Sara Ferret, I don't always get a chance to look up the URLs of posts and
sites which can help; those who encounter medical problems.  I would
REALLY appreciate it if you would also do this some times!  If we ever
duplicate each other that won't hurt because it's better that two people
say helpful things than that no one does.  Here are some tips: when I use
the URLs I find searching in http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org I seek out posts
which note a vet's address and name to my left on the list of posts.
After all, they have the best chance of being accurate.  (This is just
like my recommending Brett and Leigh above for genetics stuff.).  I also
spend time in the FML archives looking for vet posts and for ones I
carried over as part of the "from FHL" service.  There are specific
lists of links I use a LOT.  You can find all but
http://www.fothferrets.com/ferretinfo.html
in the critical links part of
http://www.ferretcongress.org .
 
Again, I give most weight to the URLs which take people to articles or
posts by vets.  Think about giving it a try and see if you feel
comfortable doing some of this.  Beware of loaded words that are usually
misused (These are rare and usually the word misused is "cancer": See
"Golden Oldie" in the FML archives to learn about that.)  Often enough
there is a WORLD of good which can be done not even commenting oneself,
but instead giving the URLs or vet posts on a topic.  One example is the
swollen penis mentioned today.  i KNOW there are vet posts about that in
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org, but i only have time to send her there, not
to search for the specific posts for her and send their addresses (URLs).
If you feel comfy sending people to vet posts and vet sites then I'd
welcome someone else doing that to remove some of the load I've taken on.
[Posted in FML issue 4329]