Back in November I wrote about my ferret Pepper who had developed
diabetes.  We were having a hard time regulating her on insulin and
getting her ketones under control.  It has been a very gradual recovery,
but it looks like we finally have her regulated on two shots a day and
she is returning to her normal bouncy, pouncy self.
 
One of the big things that helped was discovering a typo on her vials of
insulin.  It turns out that her insulin was five times more diluted than
we had thought!  So when we were giving her six shots a day thinking that
we were pumping six units of insulin into her, we were actually giving
her closer to one unit per day.  After that we switched over to a vet who
has successfully treated a few diabetic ferrets.  She put Pepper on one
unit of undiluted Humulin-NPH every twelve hours, and the ketones cleared
up soon after that.  Pepper still seems to have very high glucose levels
(we test her urine whenever we get the chance), so we're not worried that
we're overdosing on the insulin.
 
Pepper has had a long series of "firsts" in regaining her usual energy
and personality: first time going through a tube, first time standing up
on her hind legs, first time pouncing on Zoe (the tiny one), first time
pouncing on Ginger (her big, crazy sister), first time war-dancing, and
so on.  Just the other day she jumped onto the coffee table for the first
time, and although I have no actual proof I'm pretty sure she got onto
the kitchen counter and stole the dish sponge.  She went through a long
period of pickiness about how she would eat and drink; she would only eat
kibble if it was spilled into a little pile on the living room carpet,
and she would only drink out of the shower or bathtub.  Thank goodness
she's becoming much more normal about both of those.
 
Giving her shots has become very routine.  We bribe her with a little
plate of linatone, and she licks away while we inject her.  I think
that the rubber stopper on her old vials was too thick and was blunting
the needle tips, because we used to have horrible problems with bending
needles (poor Pepper).  The stopper on her new bottle of Humulin is
pretty thin, and when we give the injections the needle slides in
smoothly and painlessly.
 
It's so nice having our wonderful happy little three-year-old back.
Thank you again to everyone who wrote to me back in November with
suggestions and support.  Hugs to all the furkids out there.
 
Julie
[Posted in FML issue 4389]