1. http://www.ferretcentral.org
   (Go to the medical FAQs within this website.)
 
2. http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
   also find info on getting help from Bruce Williams for consultation
   on difficult cases at http://www.afip.org/ferrets/webconsults.html
 
3. http://www.netfopets.com/starferrets.html
   will prove invaluable since two include text on common medical problems,
   and the third on finding veterinary help and nearby contacts who may
   provide recommendations to you.  There are also other excellent webpages
   which go into these as well as discussion lists, and some of us have
   private info we send out as needed, for instance I have stuff on
   cardiomyopathy from an owner's point of view.
 
Whenever we have a ferret who lacks energy or is having trouble breathing
we also check out a chest x-ray in case of cardiomyopathy, lung disease, or
other less common problems.
 
If you have a ferret with insulinoma have your vet consider -- in relation
to the specific ferret since there are often individual considerations --
Charlie Weiss' article: "Insulinoma in the Ferret: Clinical Findings and
Treatment Comparison of 66 Cases" (J Am Anim Hosp Assoc 1998;34:471-5) in
which he found with those 66:
 
treatment       |mean days disease free |mean days survived
                |                       |
medically       | 22                    | 186
                |                       |
nodulectomy     | 234                   | 456
                |                       |
nodulectomy     |                       |
with partial    | 365                   | 668
pancreatectomy  |                       |
 
On reading the article your vet will know if this is helpful information
for your case and if not will know why not (example: insulinoma too
advanced).  Two meds which are used with insulinoma when surgery isn't an
option are Predisone and Proglycem.
 
Sukie (not a vet -- just have been there)
[Posted in FML issue 2648]