Regarding surgical cures for insulinoma. Perhaps some are cured.... I
know we certainly have thought that we have seen cures with surgery for
adrenal issues , and then several years later the adrenal symptoms did
recur of course on the other side of the body.. which points out IMO
that the system operation of the animal needs to be corrected, not
parts removed!.

We have tried everything to battle insulinoma including putting ferrets
into the doxyrubicin study-- the ferrets in that study failed to
respond positively to the protocal- one was pulled and had surgery and
passed away a year later form recurring insulinoma, the other died in
a coma as it was on the doxy program and was not allowed to have any
supplimentations of any kind.

With our experiences at Ferret Wise spanning more than 14 years, we
have seen a high number of illnesses treated with surgery. Insulinoma
surgery has only deterred the progression of insulinoma in our
experiences.

It is IMPORTANT to point out however, that insulinoma can be caused
(or the symptoms) by several different cancers which manifest in the
pancreatic tissue ( organ). The small islet cell tumors are usually
easy to remove.. sometimes however they do manifest deep within the
tissue and veterinarians cannot locate them. These islet cell tumors
can and usually do return in time causing the ferret to be treated with
a second surgery or with pred or other medications for quality of life.

Other times the tumors are far more extensive and are metasticised
within the pancreatic tissue. This second tumor can present first
with high BG readings and then with low BG readings. In our experience
excision of this mass is marginal at best as it does encompass too much
of the pancreas.

We have found in many many cases that adding a high protein snack to
the ferrets diet 2 times a day in addition to the kibble diet does
indeed prolong the life with good quality, in many cases for far
longer than what surgery would have .

These are all just experiences and each animal ( like people) are
different. We all heal differently and deal wit illness differently.
The hardest part of diagnosing ferret illnesses early is that their
instinctive nature is contrary to revealing a sickness. The animal
nature tells them to push on as showing illness is certain death in
the wild with predatory challenges, thus our ferrets hide the
sicknesses far to long for an early detection in most cases.

Fondly in ferrets,

Alicia at www.ferretwise.org

[Posted in FML 5759]