>I have a male ferret who is about 3 1/2 years old.  He has been
>experiencing the symptoms on insulinoma for about a month now.  We have
>been dealing w/ it w/ honey/karo syrup and baby food/duck soup and so far
>he has done alright.  I called a vet today to make him an appointment for
>tuesday to be tested and hopefully be able to start medicating him for
>it, if that is indeed what he has (which I am almost positive it is as
>all the symptoms are there).  Anyways, I told the secretary what I think
>he has and asked her to ask the vet about fasting, if i should do it, and
>for how long.  Her reply was do not feed him after midnight the night
>before.  His appointment isn't until 2:30 pm.  That's like 14 1/2 hours.
>It thought I was told, and read recently that 4 hours was max time for
>safety, especially w/ insulinmatic ferrets?  Should I ignore him and just
>do 4 hrs?  or try the 14 and end it if he seems to get shaky, etc???
 
You are 100% correct to question this.  The vet's office is WRONG.  If
your ferret indeed has insulinoma, and is fasted for more than 4-6 hours,
you run an excellent chance of losing him or finding him in a seizure.
 
I dumped a vet for this reason.  When I thought my Dusty was showing signs
of insulinoma (he wasn't, Thank God), I called his vet and asked for a
b.g.  I was told no food or water after 10:00 p.m. the night before".  I
immediately agrued the point and reminded her that ferrets have a 3-4 hour
digestion, so a 4-hour fast would be sufficient.  They argued back that it
was "procedure".  I told them I would not fast my ferrets for that length
of time, that if he was insuinomic it would drop his bg down to bottom
levels.  Finally very condescendingly I was told, "Just bring him in, and
WE'LL fast him."  I said no way, and found a new vet who understood
ferrets!
 
A vet who fasts a ferret for the standard dog/cat/horse/human 12-14 hours
does not know enough about ferrets to be treating an insulinomic ferret.
 
Hope this helps!!  There are much better vets.  It's good that you were
leery of this and didn't do it.  I hatw to think how many ferrets go
through a lengthy fast because a vet says so and the owner doesn't know
any better.  Education, education, education!!
 
Thanks for asking the question, hope others learn from this too.
 
Sincerely,
Heather W. in Massachusetts
[Posted in FML issue 3782]