Hi Liz.

>One of them had a low blood sugar of 2.1 [Canadian]. Tried to find
>charts corresponding to US, but could not so far.

The 2.1 would be in mmol/L (millimoles per litre). I think that would
be about 38 on the other scale, mg/dL (milligrams per decilitre). The
conversion factor is about 18. 38 is quite low; around 100 would be
normal for a ferret on that scale, or 5.5 on the other scale.

>He shows no signs of insulinoma.

Some ferrets will show signs at a higher or lower blood glucose level
than others. I've seen this with some of my own ferrets in the past,
one having bad attacks, the other showing no symptoms, both with about
the same BG.

>The vet thought that I should get his weight down.???

I have no idea what that's about, unless he's overweight, which would
be unusual for a ferret. You want a healthy weight before surgery. I
would think a little extra wouldn't hurt, but being underweight would
make surgery more risky.

>I read in Ferrets For Dummies, that they can live as long as ten
>months or longer after being diagnosed with insulinoma. I am pretty
>sure I have read about ferrets living much longer than that.

Yes, some do live much longer. I had one live 27 months after
diagnosis. He actually lived his last 15 months insulinoma free
after a partial pancreatectomy.

Here are a couple of web pages about insulinoma in ferrets:

http://www.ferret-universe.com/health/insulinoma.asp
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/treatment.htm

--
John Rosloot, Caregiver to Pandora and Tommy
With loving memories of my Big Buster Boy
my dear departed Buddy,
my precious little Cassie-angel,
and my Silly Snuggly Sammy
http://www2.cs.uregina.ca/~rosloot/ferrets
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[Posted in FML 5498]