Holly, he needs Prednisolone and possibly Diazoxide while you decide
on your approach.
 
Ferrets vary quite a bit with insulinoma and their responses, to the
disease, to meds, to sugery.
 
A CBC with Chemistry Panel makes sense.  If too much is off there may
be something else such as lymphoma or carcinoma based in the pancreas
instead of insulinoma.  We have encountered each in our family.  Lymphoma
is better to wind up with than carcinoma, and insulinoma is typically
better than either.
 
Read resources like:
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/insulinoma.htm
(summary)
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/PDF/insulinoma.pdf
(a lot of useful detail)
Notice that dosing ranges differ among texts:
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/prednisone.htm
but _Ferrets, Rabbits, and Rodents, clinical medicine and surgery, 2nd
ed._ is more conservative on the upper portion of the scale for these
meds than _Essentials of Ferrets, a Guide for Practitioners, 2nd ed._ .
I posted the dosing ranges from those texts to the FML within the last
two or three weeks so if you don't have back FMLs you may want to use the
SEND FERRET nnnn feature mentioned in the FML header to get them.  Maybe
whomever I posted them for will repost them to help you?
 
Also, read in the FML and FHL Archives.  (Addy for one in the header of
each day's FML, and addy for the other in my signature lines.)
 
(At that age the chances are high that the liver is partly compromised.
Using Prednisolone instead of Prednisone will skip a liver processing
step that normally would take Prednisone to Prednisolone; for some
ferrets this markedly improves the effect of the meds.)
 
Tammy, begin with these:
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/melatonin.htm
http://www.melatek.net/pages/1/index.htm
in
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/browse.php?msg=SG16863
the second study might actually fill in the final blank which would
take the darkness/melatonin aspect from being hypothetical to being
fully proven for the LH component.  *****BIG NEWS IF SO*****.  Dr.
Murray is seeking a copy of the article to study it.  The Turkish
expert involved in the study is considered to possibly be the most
knowledgeable person on the planet in relation to LH, I have been
informed by experts in the field.
 
There appear to also be FSH aspects (and Dr. Murray points out that
FSH's caused increase of one of the estrogens (off-hand I forget which
one, so check for that detail) points to FSH also being a contributor
to adrenal growths):
 
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/browse.php?msg=SG16865
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/browse.php?msg=SG15993
 
(which also makes me think about some recently mentioned observations
(Chris, Steph, and a study) about how estrogen toxicosis does not as
often occur with first heat as as at older ages or until after a year
of age with an ovarian fragment as per a study mentioned) -- got to
rattle some endocrinology questions around in my head to come up with
better questions now.)
 
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/browse.php?msg=SG7879
wavelengths:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/browse.php?msg=SG16834
 
There are many more resources out there answering a huge range of
questions on this.
 
-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my
private posts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love
them:
Ferret Health List
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
AFIP Ferret Pathology
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
Miamiferrets
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
International Ferret Congress Critical References
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 5201]