Dr. Williams: Thank you so much, as always!  Very, very interesting that
you've never confirmed a glucagonoma in a ferret... I sure do hope my girl
pulls through this and we can get her stabilized.  The most aggravating
thing is the weaning away from the meds; it just feels so *weird* to give
pred to a ferret with a blood sugar of 390 (Thurs morning's reading)!  I
know it has to be done gradually, but it's a bit frightening.  She is
showing trace amounts of ketones in her urine now, and the sugar in her
urine is at the highest end of the scale.  If her ketones become higher
and more dangerous, is it ever safe to give insulin while pred is also on
the menu?
 
Judith: Thanks so much for your incredibly thoughtful post about your Queen
Bean.  Very helpful!  I passed along your tip about the the pork insulin to
my vet.  I looked at the bottle of urine test strips, and they are indeed
Keto-Diastix, the same ones you use.  Yay, I guessed on them but thought
they looked good.  So far the urine dipping has been pretty easy; I just
walk up to her while she's peeing and slip a strip right into the urine
stream and she doesn't seem to mind (she's blind so I have an unfair
advantage).  I'm not at all squicked by the idea of probably needing to
give her insulin shots - I'm used to giving SQ fluids with much bigger
needles than those little fine insulin ones.  YES, my vet is awesome...
Dr. Powers is one of my most favorite people of all time; I'm amazed she
doesn't try to slip out the back door when I come to the clinic, because my
ferrets seem to have a real knack for getting weirdo things that require
her to spend a lot of time doing research.  She is a true gem.  Your Sabine
sounds a lot like my Sonic - she is a real mama's girl and loves to be
cuddled and pampered. :-)
 
It's so nice to have this resource!
 
Best wishes to all,
-Pam S.
[Posted in FML issue 3260]