Okay, first off, insulinoma is treatable and they can live much longer
than that book said, though not all do.

I know that there is a rumor that meat fed ferrets don't get
insulinoma, but, of course, they can (as you have discovered), though
diet may play a role in delaying or preventing onset for some.

Insulinoma is also affected by inheritance, and if some new diabetes
work generalizes it may also be related to the health of some
pancreatic nerves.

Prednisolone and Diazoxide are the meds usually used, and surgery,
esp. partial pancreatomy can get more time usually.

> J Am Anim Hosp Assoc. 1998 Nov-Dec;34(6):471-5.
>
>
>Insulinoma in the ferret: clinical findings and treatment
>comparison of 66 cases.
>
>Weiss CA, Williams BH, Scott MV.
>Potomac Animal Hospital, Maryland 20854, USA.
>The clinical signs and surgical findings were reported for 66 ferrets
>with insulinomas confirmed histologically. All of the ferrets were
>treated with one of three modalities, and disease-free intervals
>and survival times were gathered to determine the most effective
>treatment. The three treatment groups included 10 ferrets treated
>medically, 27 ferrets treated with pancreatic nodulectomy, and 29
>ferrets treated with pancreatic nodulectomy combined with a partial
>pancreatectomy. The mean disease-free intervals for each group were
>22, 234, and 365 days, respectively. The mean survival times for each
>group were 186, 456, and 668 days, respectively. Based upon the data,
>recommendations were made for treating insulinoma in the ferret.

Full text can be gotten here by your vet if a subscriber:
http://www.jaaha.org/cgi/reprint/34/6/471

Here is an article to help you. If anatomy photos bother you just put
post-its over those:

http://www.afip.org/ferrets/PDF/insulinoma.pdf

Feed him OFTEN and have food available so that he can eat at least
every 4 hours.

DO check to make sure that his blood sugar was not just driven down
from not eating, though in early insulinoma the tests are often
inconsistent.

Sukie (not a vet)
Current FHL address:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth
People can join there or can send a blank mail to the automated
joining address:
[log in to unmask]
and then follow the directions.
(The second is recommended for those having problems with Yahoogroups
web settings, and afterward send a blank mail from your subscribed
address to
[log in to unmask]
to get the digest instead of individual mails. )
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml

[Posted in FML 5498]