Karla,
 
Sorry to hear about Daisy's insulinoma.  I'm by no means an expert, but
for some reason I seemed to have had a high number of insulinomic ferrets
over the years.  In my experience there is no way to predict for sure how
long a ferret will go with this disease.  Most of them do really well with
extra protein feedings (chicken baby food or Bob's Chicken gravy recipe
and prednisone).  I have had several that have been maintained on that
for 2 years and a couple over 3 years.  I also have had a couple that
went downhill very rapidly from time of diagnosis and no amount of pred
or proglycem helped.  I have also had pancreatic surgery on several.
None were cured by the surgery, some lived 2 or 3 years longer, but not
any longer than some that weren't surgery candidates and only had pred.
(I also lost a couple during pancreatic surgery).
 
This is only my experience.  It sounds like you are on top of things and
Daisy will probably have several good years left.  If you are thinking
of surgery, they say sooner is better than waiting.  It can be a hard
decision to make (meds or surgery).  Do what you feel is right for your
ferret.  The most important thing you can do for her is get her on regular
high protein feedings, especially if she is showing symptoms, then add
pred when it is needed.
 
Good luck to you and Daisy.  I hope this post wasn't too rambling, it is
just that there is no way to predict how fast one's ferrets' insulinoma
will progress.  I would say 1-3years is the average I see.
 
Julie
[Posted in FML issue 3797]