>Hi.  Last night our six year old ferret Coco started violent seizures and
>screaming (I have never experienced an animal in more distress).  We took
>him to the pet emergency at 4:30 a.m. and they told us that his blood
>sugar was 17 and his temperature was very low.  This morning we
>transferred him to our vet.  They think that it is possibly insulinomia
>(?).  They took x-rays and nothing showed up.  They also took blood tests
>and a check for insulinomia.  We will find out the results of the blood
>tests tomorrow and the others early next week.
>
>This came on really suddenly.  We noticed that Coco had started to lose
>his balance and had made an appointment with the vet for Friday.  We had
>no idea that it would escalate to this so quickly.
>
>Do you have any experience with this quick onset of violent seizures?  Do
>you have any suggestions for us?
 
This presentation is not uncommon - at 17, they often pass through seizures
into a coma - we call it "going screaming into a coma".
 
Although it looks awful - these animals are totally out of it - people who
have been through this level of hypoglycemia remember nothing about it
afterward - the vocalization is involuntary.
 
At this point, - treatment is the same as with an insulinoma - maintenance
on dextrose, exploratory laparotomy, and surgical removal of the tumor, or
partial pancreatectomy (depending on the landscape when you get in there.)
I don't think that I would wait for next week for surgery - it is likely
that he will do this again on you - a BG of 17 can be life-threatening.
 
At 17, this is not an animal that can be regulated medically at this point -
surgery is the way to go.  X-rays wouldn't really be expected to show
anything - most insulinomas are really too small to show up on an X-ray.
[Posted in FML issue 3464]