Our oldest ferret, Adjective, has recently been diagnosed with insulinoma
and is on prednisone.  So far he's doing very well on it, and our vet
seemed rather reluctant about surgery, on the grounds that he's getting old
(6-1/2), it's hard to get all the tumors, and even if you do they often
come back.  But a recent message from Dr. Williams about the quick decline
in quality of life without surgery got me wondering about getting a second
opinion.  How old is too old to be a good surgery candidate?  Except for
a bout of giardia a year or so ago, Adjie has never been sick at all till
now, and at his checkup and vaccination visit just a couple months before
the diagnosis, the vet declared him remarkably healthy looking "for an old
guy".  Now my husband claims he's showing signs of being obviously weaker
and doesn't have long, but to me he looks pretty good, considering.  He's
big, a tad tubby even,and doesn't seem to be losing weight, shows interest
and curiousity, comes downstairs with the others when we let them have free
run, and wanders around his room exploring when he's there.  He sleeps a
lot, sure, but he did that before he got sick too, he's older than the
others and slower.  So maybe the surgery risk isn't as bad as i think, and
he'd get a lot more time from it.  On the other hand, he *is* elderly, and
the pred seems to be helping him keep his quality of life so far (a couple
months).  I'm not sure what case Dr. Williams was responding to, whether it
was a younger ferret, or whether there were other factors, but I'd welcome
his opinion on this one, and anyone else's, too.  I want him to have the
best life he can, and the longest, but I don't want to lose him to surgery
because of his age.
 
thanks,
Nancy
[Posted in FML issue 3322]