Hi All:

On Mon, my 3 yr old Teddy was dx'd w/ insulinoma. He was started on
pred immediately, & on Tues, we added carafate, as he began grinding
his teeth -- the pred must be upsetting his stomach.

When he was dx'd, my vet was quite stumped about something. In the past
yr -- yr & a half, he's dx'd *4* new cases of insulinoma....as compared
to only *1* new case of adrenal disease. We are a rural area, & I'm
sure there are not as many ferrets as pets here as there are in other
areas. Despite being a small town, our vet is an excellent exotics
vet, & a long-time ferret owner himself. He says that the incidence of
insulinoma around here is completely off the chart, as compared to how
it was not that long ago.

As for me, I've owned ferrets for about 12 yrs, 11 little sweethearts
in all, & I *never* saw a case of insulinoma in my guys until about
3 yrs or so ago. Of the 11 ferrets I've owned, 3 have had adrenal
disease, & 4 have had insulinoma....& none of those occurred, as I
said, until about 3 or so yrs ago. I give the same care to my babies
that I've always given, & haven't changed their diets. (Totally
Ferret....when I make soup, it's just ground up, watered down Natural
Gold -- I tried it once for their regular diet, they didn't care for
it, so I started using it for soup, & they like it in that form -- go
figure. Sometimes I put heavy whipping cream in it, & I usually also
put a tiny bit of FerreTone in it, as well.)

My vet & I are curious -- has anyone else noticed the incidence of
insulinoma going up in their populations? It seems weird that the
numbers, even in a rural area like mine -- are going up so drastically
in the past not-quite 2 yrs. I wonder why this would be?

Anyone?

Lin

[Posted in FML 7274]