Megan Wisdom wrote:
>My baby has just been diagnosed with insulinoma and I want to do a glucose
>test myself [...] , but I'm not sure how to go about getting the drop of
>blood.
 
At the vet's (ours, anyway), they trim a toenail a tiny bit too short.  It
bleeds plenty for the test and closes up quickly (use styptic powder if it
doesn't).
 
>Also, the person who mentioned that her ferret's glucose was 110 and was
>told that was hypoglycemic: I was told that 90-120 was normal, not low.
 
If the ferret has been fasted for 4-6 hours beforehand, the normal range is
around 85-125 mg/dl; if she hasn't been fasted, it can be up to 207 mg/dl or
so depending on how recently she's eaten.  Non-fasted glucose levels aren't
very easy to interpret, since you don't know whether the ferret's just
finished a snack or just woken up from a 3-hour nap.
 
Becca Simpson asked:
>Has anyone out there (ie; ferret, ferret owner, vet, breeder, shelter,
>lurker =) noticed any inherent health problems with Marshall Farms ferrets?
 
The problem is, hardly anyone sees enough ferrets to have a statistical
sample.  Very big shelters and very busy vets might possibly be able to
judge, and I think there is/was a survey being done, but individual owners
can only give you hearsay.
 
With that in mind, I'll just mention that Dr. Williams has said:
|    Sure, Marshall Farms ferrets develop tumors.  So do ALL ferrets.
|    We don't know why ferrets develop most tumors - we know
|    that they are most likely to develop them between the ages of 4
|    and 6, but not why. ... To my knowledge - there are no inherent
|    "defects" with  Marshall Farms ferrets.
 
--
- Pam Greene
Ferret Central <http://www.optics.rochester.edu:8080/users/pgreene/>
            or send INDEX FERRET in email to <[log in to unmask]>
[Posted in FML issue 1635]