Hello,

My ferret Dora who I have fought so hard to get back to the US with us
was just diagnosed Friday with insulinoma. The vet insisted she didn't
have it and then I noticed her lags slipping a little. So, she has it
and is on Predisolone 3mg a day given every 8 hours. It's been 4 days
and she doesn't seem to be getting better. That is not a lot of time
but my vet told me to have her put down yesterday if she didn't act any
better. She is 6 years old, and the only things different is her legs
slip around on our hard floors but she will get her footing back after
a bit, she sleeps ALL the time, doesn't want to eat on much on her
own (maybe 1 or 2 pieces a day), when I feed her the duck soup/baby
food/water combo, sometimes she seems to be grinding her teeth?

Now I know that is related to the insulinoma and stomach issues but my
question is why does she only do it when eating? I always thought she
would do it at any point if her stomach was bothering her. She has
never had a seizure, or anything terrible where is seems she should be
put down. I'm confused by the vet. She doesn't have any experience with
ferrets with insulinoma.

We move in 3 weeks and since Deltas CEO has made an exception for her
to fly in cabin with me, I have to pay for a ticket (my family will be
flying military) I'm worried something will happen to her after I buy
the ticket. That's not really a huge worry but if we weren't leaving, I
wouldn't be half as worried because being here I can be with her 24/7.
When we leave here we will be in NC visiting our families so I will be
running around and Dora will be in a strange place (she has been there
before right before we moved here 4 years ago). Just not sure how it
will affect her.

Basically my concerns are this: The vet said she had a heart condition
but ran no tests and was put on meds, she was put on Predisolone
Friday and I see no improvements (she has been on it since Aug. for
a respiratory infection..very low dose) I don't know how fast it
should work, I have heard right away and I have heard weeks. I feed her
every 3-4 hours and she eats maybe 1 or 2 teaspoons of the duck/baby
food/water. I thought that was enough, but I will be bumping that time
to every 2 hours and see if she will eat more often. I'm pretty sure I
need a second opinion but we leave in about 3 weeks and I'm wondering
if I should go to another German vet or wait until I can see a more
ferret knowledgeable vet...I'm so lost and confused on the progress I
should see or maybe not see. There are major details on this thread:
http://forum.ferret.com/tm.aspx?&m=199313&mpage=1

[Posted in FML 7231]