>From:    carmen stephan <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: low blood glucose level found at a young ferret (age 1 year)
>I have a question to all who know the answer or to dr Bruce Williams:
>is it possible for a ferret of the age of 1 year old to have Insulinomea?
>
>The ferret has a very low blood glucose level (4) or can there be other
>diseases who can cause this low level?  Like heart trouble or something
>like that.
 
Since you are in Europe, I will assume the glucose number you are stating
is being measured in mmol/L, and if that is the case, 4 mmol/L is roughly
equivalent to a reading of 73mg/dl in the U.S.
 
While not terribly low, it does seem low for a 1 year old, but a single
reading could be inaccurate and affected by other factors, so retesting
is definitely a good idea.  It's generally thought that if a ferret tests
below 70mg/dl, one should begin to think insulinoma.  It would be pretty
uncommon for a one-year old to have insulinoma, but I don't believe it
would be impossible.  If I recall correctly, we had one or more in our
shelter that had low glucose numbers and were no more than 1.5 years.
 
There's not much else other than insulinoma that would cause consistently
low glucose numbers.  Again, retesting is definitely called for to be sure
that the reading wasn't just a temporary shift.
 
Heart disease in that young of a ferret would be just as unusual, unless
there was a congenital defect.  I'm not a vet, but I never heard of a heart
problem causing low blood glucose.  Also, diarrhea is not a symptom of
insulinoma but of course that doesn't mean he can't have diarrhea and
insulinoma at the same time.
 
Sounds to me like more testing is in order and it may be helpful to know
more specifics as to how often these episodes occur, how well and what is
he eating, and anything else at all that you can think of.
 
For the ferrets,
Mike
 
* Michael Janke, [log in to unmask]
* South Florida Ferret Help Line, 305-752-7040
*
* Website:  http://www.miamiferret.org
* Adrenal/Insulinoma web site: http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc
*
* Ferret Health List: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list
[Posted in FML issue 3392]