I need some advice on my little fuzz-girl Cassie.
 
Last Thursday morning I found Cassie lying under my bed.  She was very
lethargic and had poop smeared in her fur.  She had seemed ok when I went
to bed, but otherwise might have been like that all night for all I know.
 
I brought her to the vet, and she pooped on the way; it was kinda slimy
and a little green.  The vet checked her over and we both figured it was
an intestinal virus, especially since Cassie had shown similar symptoms
several years ago which cleared up on their own after 5 days (all the
frantic tests I had run at that time showed nothing).
 
The vet said she also had a slight fever, and her blood sugar was very
low.  The vet kept her overnight, gave her some subcutaneous fluids and
an injection of a steroid related to prednisone, and said her fever cleared
up afterwards and she ate a little.
 
I've suspected for over a year that Cassie has mild insulinoma because she
occasionally shows some weakness in her hind legs, but since she had never
shown any more serious symptoms I hadn't been overly worried about it.  In
recent months she's started to lose some hair, though it's not much so far,
so I was planning to watch her for the next couple of months and then
probably bring her in for adrenal/insulinoma surgery.  I felt there was no
cause for alarm since Sammy had been through both these conditions with
much more pronounced symptoms.
 
Anyway, now we get to the worrying part.  Over the weekend I noticed Cassie
is tending to travel in little counter-clockwise circles.  I started to
wonder if she might have had a stroke.  She showed a little improvement
over the weekend; her poop became more normal looking, and she started to
walk again, but was very unsteady on her feet and continued to 'pull to the
left'.  She also started to eat and drink a little on her own but nowhere
near normal levels.  I've been force feeding her a kibble porridge, and
giving her prednisone that I had left over from Sammy (his insulinoma
surgery a few months ago was a big success).
 
She's at the substitute vet today (my vet is away this week).  She says
her blood sugar is still low and she's a little dehydrated again.  She says
the 'pulling to the left' is fairly indicative of a neurological problem,
although perhaps not permanent.  She says a stroke is possible, but also
that prolonged low blood sugar can cause neurological damage.  I had never
heard this before, and would certainly have acted sooner if I had thought
Cassie might get brain damage from low blood sugar.
 
Can anyone provide any advice on possible/likely causes for Cassie's
condition, on tests to determine the exact cause, and on how to make her
better?  She seems alert, her personality seems normal, but she's having so
much trouble getting around, and keeps going in circles.  Plus she's hardly
eating, partly because she seems too uncoordinated to get much down.  I
weighed her this morning and she's 1/2 lb below normal (normal being 2
lbs), though it's been a couple of months since I last weighed her so I
don't know whether this was sudden or gradual.  She seems lighter and
thinner and hasn't been eating much of course so I'm thinking it was
sudden.
 
Cassie will be 8 years old in August by the way.
 
I hate to see her like this. Can anyone please give me some advice?
 
--
John Rosloot, Caregiver to Cassidy and Sammy
With loving memories of my dear departed Buddy
Technical analyst, Dept. of Computer Science, University of Regina
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
http://www.cs.uregina.ca/~john/ferrets
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[Posted in FML issue 3103]