Hello everyone,
 
I am STILL way behind in what is going on with all of you, and as others
have said, I am so sorry for anyone experiencing pain and loss.  Here I
am again, needing your opinions and knowledge from possible similiar
experiences with what I am about to describe.  I am frazzled, stressed,
and so confusedby today's report on my little Fang!
 
To refresh: he had surgery for insulinoma in Feb, and has been on pediapred
and Bob's Chicken Gravy.  We have had difficulty getting his blood glucose
up into the safe range, finally arriving at the fairly high level of 1 ml.
twice a day.  (pediapred is 1ml.=1mg).  His last glucose test was three
weeks ago, and came in at 86.  Not bad, but not that good.  I took him back
to the surgeon in the city today because I have sensed something else
going on; I needed reassurance that his huge fat pads in his neck were
not lypmphosarcoma, and I needed another glucose test to see how it was
going...
 
The poor little guy had a glucose reading that went off the scale;
literally over 500, redid, and results were in the four hundreds!  The vet
and his personnel repeated the test on two different machines (one large
and one small; I don't understand these things).  They ran another
comparison test of some kind to test the machines themselves to make sure
we were getting a proper reading.  Little Fang now has full blown Diabetes!
I remember reading awhile back about somebody here experiencing this very
thing, and I am asking you now, whoever you are, to please reiterate your
experience and results with me, PLEASE.  Anybody else out there who has an
opinion or knowledge that might be helpful, please e mail me asap!
 
This vet (who has attended Dr. Weiss's lectures and called him when my
Fang needed a blood transfusion,etc) called Dr. Weiss today after the test
results for advice.  Weiss mentioned that he had just seen a case similiar
to mine, and here is the protocol we are trying: Decrease the pediapred
from 1 ml. twice a day to oncea day, for one week.  Then back for another
bc test.  Then reduce to 1/2 ml.once a day, etc., until we can wean him off
the pred.  THEN, if his pancreas does not start producing insulin on its
own, we have to give him insulin injections for the diabetes.  Does this
sound good to those of you who know more than I do??  My vet said that if
is better than having insulinoma, as he started out dying of that.  He said
our worst fear now is to make sure he doesn't die of diabetes.  This is too
much for me to understand.
 
Just yesterday I made another batch of Bob's Gravy with 3 instead of 4
Tbls. honey, and about only two inches of ferretvite (had been told this
wouldn't hurt his insulinoma considering the ratios of the roaster chicken
to the sugars).  Now I am going to make the gravy all over again with
absolutely NO sugars at all.  Does this mean I should leave out the ground
kibble ( I used Totally Ferret) due to Bob's belief that it is turns to
sugar after digestion?  If I leave out the Ferretvite, the honey, amd the
ferretone, what will I add for nutrients???  .  The vet said that his body
is totally dependent on the pediapred now, and we are hoping the pancreas
will start producing insulin on its own after we get the dosage of
pediapred way down....
 
What are the signs I need to watch for in this withdrawal from the
pediapred?  He has already had increased lethargy this last month; he hates
his pred belly cuz he can't reach his privates as easily to clean , and I
can tell he is uncomfortable with his weight gain.  I would like to think
that this might be an okay thing; to have diabetes instead of insulinoma;
something I can learn how to handle...but where did the insulinoma go??
How can this turn around happen?  If the increased pred didn't *cause* it,
then what did?  I only increased the pred in the first place because his
blood sugar was too low, even after the surgery.  I have learned more this
year from you guys, and from my experiences so far, that I feel like I'm
going through vet school myself.
 
Bob, please write to me, and anybody out there who can help!  What can I
add to the gravy to make sure he is getting what he needs?  Do I need to
make sure he eats as often as I was encouraging him to when his bc.  was
too low?  Should he never get kibble due to the turning to sugar in his
body?  ( he only dabbles at Kibble, anyway, since Iams changed their
formula; only eats a couple of pieces here and there.)
 
God Bless you all,
Love, liz and Fang
[Posted in FML issue 3068]