Hello,

My ferret Linus is 7 years old, and has been dealing with adrenal and
insulinoma for almost the past year. He was doing pretty well with a
deslorelin implant and twice daily pred. In the past few months, I've
had to bump up his dose to 2.5 mg twice a day, and I think it's gotten
to the point where it's just not going to do any more good.

Over the past day or so, he has been less than enthusiastic about
taking his medicine (in turkey baby food, which he normally loves), and
just seems to have lost what little spark he had left. My question is,
do I go ahead and have him euthanized at this point, or just let him
go on his own? I would much prefer that he go on his own terms, but I
don't want him to suffer either. I know eventually he will just be
completely unresponsive, but I don't know if insulinomic ferrets tend
to just go quietly in their sleep, or if at that point he might have
some horrible seizure (which I'd like to avoid at any cost!).

Linus is the first ferret I've had to go through this, since Charlie
died very suddenly of lymphoma at only a year old. I'm hoping some of
you folks will share some of your experiences and wisdom, so I'll have
some idea what to do...

Amanda

[Posted in FML 6911]