I posted last week about a stroke like episode Cassie had.  Here's an
update.
 
She's doing much better now.  Her strength and appetite imroved all last
week.  She is still a little wobbly when standing for a long time, and is
still pulling to the left, but she's eating like a horse and is running all
over the house, and no longer tiring easily.  She's missing the litter pan
most of the time, but not all the time any more.
 
Considering the shape she was in a week ago her progress has been great.
 
Her blood glucose was very low at first and she wasn't eating on her own,
but these have both improved.  She lost almost 1/2 a pound but is starting
to gain that back.  She's on prednisone, plus I'm feeding her a duck soup
recipe in addition to what she eats on her own.
 
Whether or not she had a stroke isn't known; this still may have been a
case of an intestinal bug and loss of appetite causing her BG to crash.
Anyway, we figure insulinoma is her main problem, and we're working to
build her strength and weight back up and keep her blood glucose stable
until she's well enough for surgery.
 
Hopefully she will benefit as much as Sammy.  He was on daily prednisone
and special feedings for about a year for his insulinoma, and by April his
BG was still dropping to 20-30, but since surgery his BG is 100 with no
meds or special diet.  I've been through many surgeries with my vet, who
has over 20 years experience with ferrets, and haven't had any 'bad'
surgeries, so I'm hopeful.
 
Wish us luck.  Cassie goes for a recheck on Thursday, at which time we'll
discuss how soon we should do the surgery.
 
--
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 3109]