Hi Everyone,
 I just found out yesterday that one of my ferrets has gone from
insulinomic to diabetic. He also has ketoacidosis and we're currently
battling ulcers, so the situation is rather grave. He didn't have the
surgery, so my vet and I are somewhat confused as to what caused it. He
is also adrenal, and some research on the FHL showed that it might
adrenal related? Anyway, I was hoping that those people who had dealt
with diabetes before could offer some advice, either privately or on
the list. Here is Cheeba's current treatment:

- Feedings 4x a day, 35 cc's per sitting of baby food & A/D
- 1 unit of insulin (Humulin N) 2x a day
- he was already on carafate, biaxin & amoxi for the ulcers, so she
  told me to continue those
- 50 - 65 units (ml?) of subq fluids a day
- test urine 3x a day with ketodiastix to see if there are ketones and
  glucose in urine
- test BG once a day (picked up the Ascensia Contour unit advised by
  vet yesterday)

My main questions are:

1) Was the diabetes you dealt with temporary or permanent?

2) What diet did you find worked the best?

3) If the diabetes resulted in the ferret passing away, what happened?
How did it escalate? And how long was the ferret alive after being
diagnosed?

4) Did you use a BG monitor? If so, which one, and how accurate was it?

5) If your ferret developed ketoacidosis, were you able to stabilize
the ferret enough to correct the problem? What did you do?

If you can think of any other questions that I should have asked,
please feel free to answer them. I appreciate any help that anyone
could give me.

Thank you,
Krissy

[Posted in FML 5409]