James Cristea regarding Cody's seizures,
 
Our good-old Swamp (a 7.5 year old sable male) was also diagnosed
with insulinoma.  Our vet and we chose a medical treatment since Swamp
had an adrenalectomy (left gland) in April.  He lost a lot of weight
and had several seizures in April; in the worst case it took us
about 2 hours to bring him out of the seizure (I even had our other
ferrets say good-bye).
 
Following are the things we have been doing and they seem to be working:
 
In order to stabilize his blood sugar level, I feed him about every
six hours.  I keep a large stock of LUMPS ferret soup (we freeze the soup
in ice cube trays).  I microwave one or two cubes of soup for about
one minute, mix the warm soup with one tablespoon of baby food (chicken,
turkey, or turkey and rice for variety) and sprinkle in some brewer's yeast.
 
I put the soup in a small saucer and put it in front of Swamp who is
almost blind due to cataract.  I dab my index finger in the soup and
smear it on his muzzle to help him to identify the smell and taste.
When I first started feeding him the soup, I had to finger-feed him the
entire dish.  Now he only needs my help at the beginning.  (Actually the
other ferrets have comecame to love this soup and these days I have to
isolate Swamp so that he can eat until he is full.  Other gangs finish
the leftovers.
 
Besides the ferret soup, I give him snacks (Nutra-Cal, one or two
Cherrios, Totally Ferret) once or twice a day.  I also give a drop of
Linatone when he goes to the bathroom.  He sometimes eats dry ferret
food (the mixture of Purina ferret chow, 8 in 1, Iiam's kitten) on his
own.  He eats dry food if I dip each piece in water first to give some
mositure to it..
 
While warming up the soup, I prepare the medication.  I measure the
medication with a syringe and dilute the medicine with lukewarm water.
The vet prescribed 0.10 cc of Prelone and 0.20 cc of Diazoxide.  I give
Prelone with the 6:00 am feeding (I used to give him Prelone twice a day
and reduced to the once a day since Swamp doesn't like the taste).  I
divide his dose of Diazoxide by 4 and give it to him right after his feeding.
 
We haven't had any seizures for more than a month.  He has gained weight
(he has become 'round' again).  Although his hind legs are still slightly
weak, he has no problem to go to the far bathroom just to get a Linatone
treat.  He grooms himself and plays with paper bags.  He doesn't climb
the couch voluntarily any more, however, when I lure him with Cherrios
he does climb the couch by himself.
 
For an additional information, we used Linatone, strawberry jam, and
dilute chicken baby food and egg yolk to bring him out of his seizures.
Each one worked well except the worst case (a tiny piece of bread I
started eating worked miraculously that time.)
 
Just my $0.02.
 
PS.  I just realized that the latest version of the Ferret FAQ does not
carry the recipe of LUMPS Ferret Soup any more.  E-mail me if you need one.
 
Mike and Yuki S. Busch, Ft. Collins, Coloradoo
and 5 wonderful ferrets (Swamp, Nuke, Mythril, Precious Sneaker, and Socks)
[Posted in FML issue 1228]