Yes, 40 for glucose level indicates insulinoma & yes, green poops after
introducing new fuzzies into the household is probably ECE.
 
At age 5 whether or not to do surgery is a matter of how active the fuzzy
normally is, really.  With a glucose of 40 and you haven't noticed any
stumbling, nausea/vomiting, hind quarter weakness, and just a gradual
increase of longer sleep periods, I'd guess (& I'm not a vet..  just a
fuzzy mom with years of experience with insulinoma ferrets).  I'd guess
your fuzzy has had insulinoma for quite some time.  months.  maybe a
year.  He has acquired it slowly and has gradually adjusted to the low
glucose state.  Ferrets that have a rapidly developing case of insulinoma
and get down to 40 will more commonly exhibit dramatic symptoms,
inability to walk and seizures.
 
The ECE is a separate illness.  It's an inflammation of the intestinal
tract that can actually strip away the lining of the intestinal tract
and interfere with the intestine's ability to digest food adequately.
green poop is simply food that went through the digestive system without
being completely digested.  It causes stomach upset, loss of appetite,
lack of interest in eating or drinking, dehydration.  It hits older
ferrets (4yrs+) harder than it does youngsters (it is often never even
noticed in ferrets less than 1 yr as more that a couple of days of
greenish, runny poops.)
 
My recommendation for now is to delay surgery for at least 3 months, due
simply to the recent ECE.  You don't want to add an additional shock to
his system until his digestive tract has had some time to recover.  Since
this ferret has probably had insulinoma for awhile, it might not be to
his advantage to have it now.  My preference for insulinoma surgery is
to catch the condition early, and do a pancreotomy (remove the section
of the pancreas containing the visible tumors).  Of course, this isn't
always possible.  sometimes the tumors are distributed throughout the
pancreas and all that can be done is remove the visible tumors.
Insulinoma is not considered 'curable' because some tumors can be
microscopic in size so the vet can't see them to remove them.  He can
remove the visible ones, but there is no way to tell how many are still
there to grow.
 
When a ferret is a good surgical candidate ( healthy, active - as in
bouncy, wardancing while playing ) I opt for the surgery, pretty much
without regard to the ferret's actual age.  We have had ferrets that
lived for up to 4 quality years after their first insulinoma diagnosis.
The longer survivals being those who were diagnosed early, had
pancreotomy surgery, and were eventually placed on pred after the
insulimona's eventual recurrence.  In these cases, also, were those who
had adrenal surgeries at a later date with additional insulinoma tumors
removed during the adrenal surgery.
 
So, bottom line. for now. just give the pred, and keep him eating.
 
Suggestions:
http://www.ferrets1st.com/articles/duck_soup_and_additives.htm
 
Debi Christy
Ferrets First Foster Home
www.ferrets1st.com
[Posted in FML issue 5113]