Recapping because I see that the answer to one of John's questions
was pretty hidden in there.
* Untreated insulinoma causes LOW blood sugar due to high insulin levels.
* Untreated diabetes causes HIGH blood sugar due to low insulin levels.
* Insulinoma is more often encountered in ferrets than diabetes.
* The symptoms can be the same so test first before giving steroids
because if a ferret is diabetic failure to know that and giving the
opposite med from what is needed could cause serious problems.
* Oh, and I forgot to mention that for diabetic ferrets added Brewers
Yeast can also be useful, but giving extra of that beyond the normal
mineral replacement amount in foods should be avoided for ferrets
with insulinoma.
Ashley, some are thrown off by not eating. The following is carried here
with standing permission that I have from Dr. Bruce Williams and is from:
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/Clin_Path/ClinPath.html and is *also related
to the FML conversation about long fasts in ferrets*.
>Probably the most common misinterpretation that I see on a routine
>basis is in the area of hepatic enzymes. Remember, that the ferret,
>being by nature an obligate carnivore, has an extremely short digestive
>tract, and requires meals as often as every four to six hours. Should
>food not be available, it possesses the ability to quickly mobilize
>peripheral fat stores in order to meet energy requirements. When this
>physiologic mechanism is activated, the liver is literally flooded with
>fat, which results in hepatocellular swelling which may be marked. The
>result of this swelling is the leakage of membrane enzymes such as
>alanine aminotransferase, and as the hepatocellular swelling increases,
>occlusion of bile canaliculi occurs, resulting, over time, in elevation
>of alkaline phosphatase.
>
>In conjunction with this physiologic change, elevations of ALT up
>to 800 mg/dl can be seen, and alkaline phosphatase up to approximately
>100 mg/dl. This often causes confusion to practitioners, who render an
>erroneous diagnosis of unspecified hepatic disease. However, hepatic
>disease is quite uncommon in this species; the most common cause of true
>hepatic disease in the ferret is neoplasia, with lymphosarcoma causing
>95% of cases. Rarely bacterial infections of the liver or biliary tree
>may be seen.
>
>The diagnosis of hepatic disease in the ferret must be based not only
>on ALT and alkaline phosphatase, but other clinical indicators in the
>CBC and chem panel. Clinical elevation of icterus or an elevated
>bilirubin is an excellent indicatior of primary hepatic disease, or
>concomitant leukocytosis or pyrexia may lend additional credence to
>a diagnosis of primary hepatic disease.
>
>Decreased total protein and mild hypoalbuminemia is a common finding
>in both ill and older ferrets. Most commonly, hypoalbuminemia
>indicates prolonged anorexia in the ferret, but it is also a common
>feature in long-standing inflammatory disease of the gastrointestinal
>tract. In older animals, gastroduodenal infection by Helicobacter
>mustelae is a common cause of mild hypoalbuminemia, and in young
>animals, any inflammatory bowel disease may cause this sign.
-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my
private posts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love
them:
Ferret Health List
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
AFIP Ferret Pathology
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
Miamiferrets
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
International Ferret Congress Critical References
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 5207]
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