Theresa ,regarding your ferret with suspected insulinoma.  All is not lost.
My older guy is 6 years old, and I noticed just the last few months that he
was getting thin, a little shaky when he first wakes up, and not too active.
I went to the vets, they checked his blood sugar and it was 40.  Minimum
should be 60.  He goes back at the end of this week after a 6 hour fasting
just to confirm the readings.
 
I also did some checking and reading .  Here is what I found.  In humans (
try this yourself) if you don't eat regularly, your blood sugar goes real
low and you get dizzy and shakey.  You have to eat regular meals to keep up
your levels.  If you loose lots of weight, you are not eating and your sugar
content goes down.
 
Lots of ferrets ( 4 out of 5 I think) have insulinoma.  Some show signs,
some don't.  Surgery can be done, but that doesn't mean it won't come back.
 
My vet said the best thing to do was to put more weight on him.  So we have
been feeding him "heinz baby food, (chicken broth) for the past 7 days.( 2
jars a day).  We call it "the goo" He also gets about 1/4 inch of nutrical 4
times a day , and also one chocholate chip first thing in the morning to
give hima burst of engery, to make him a little active, to make him hungry
which makes him eat.
 
He only weighed 1.1 kg a week ago ( thats about 2.5 lbs if your an
American), and I'm sure he is heavier now.
 
The medications...prednizone are great, but very short term and my vet
didn't recommend in this case.
 
So, summing up, in the first stages of the disease, treatment can be done by
diet.  First stages of the disease show wieght loss, shakiness, falling down,
vacant staring, lethargy and drooling.  Advances stages include seizures.
 
I'm pretty sure our guy has it, because I did notice him drooling once last
August, but didn't think it was anything more than a cold.  This would also
be a bad time for a ferret who had it, whose blood sugar was low, who is
"semi hybernating" due to the cold weather, so who isn't eating, and the
vicious circle begins.  So using logic, if you change the vicious circle, by
feeding more, putting on wieght, increasing blood sugar, I would suspect
most of the symtoms would disappear.
 
Having said all that, I am not a vet,  and am just hoping for the best for
our little guy,  so maybe my outlook is a little jaded at this time.
 
for a picture of our crew........"www.seaside.net/homepage/rbever"
[Posted in FML issue 1834]