In response to the person who wrote that their 18 month old ferret had been
diagnosed with diabetes because of an elevated blood glucose reading.  We
had a similar situation with our 9 1/2 year old.  We were 99.9% sure that
Tabu had insulinomas.  She has had the symtoms for about 6 months.  When we
had her at the vet for other reasons, the vet drew blood and tested for
sugar.  Her blood glucose was very elevated, and our vet was also concerned
about diabetes.  She sent us home with several urine testers to see if there
was blood in Tabu's urine.  These are very easy to use.  Basically, it
reminds me of a pregnancy test.  You stick the tip of this paper in the
ferret's urine and watch to see what color it turns.  We had Tabu urinate on
some tile so that it was easy to make sure that we got the tester saturated.
We did this 3 times on different days and at different times.  This test
showed us that she did not have sugar in her urine.  Our vet said that if it
was diabetes, we would see elevated sugar levels in the blood as well as
sugar in the urine.  I then posted a question to Dr. Susan Brown, the AOL
ferret vet, about diabetes.  According to Dr. Brown, there is no concensus
among vets that ferrets can get diabetes; if they can, it is very rare.  She
also said that if a ferret has insulinomas that their blood sugar can range
all over the place - from very high to very low.  Some of this depends on
when you did the blood glucose in relation to when the ferret last ate.  I
read somewhere that a blood sugar of 207 in a non-fasted ferret can be
considered normal.  Anyway, you didn't mention what the blood glucose
reading was, and you also didn't say whether or not the blood was drawn
after a 4-6 hour fast.  You might re-post with a little more information.
You might also read the ferret FAQ on insulinoma and share that with your
vet.
 
Another comment on insulinoma and food.  I have seen several posts in FML
lately that mention giving ferrets with insulinoma Nutrical for additional
nutritional value.  We were using Nutrical until I read some information
from one of the vets on one of the ferret boards that said this is really
not a good idea.  Nutrical contains several syrups which are sugary, and
this can actually cause more problems with the insulinomas.  There are
several other ways to get the additional fat and protein into a ferret with
insulinoma that actually help balance the sugar highs and lows that the
insulinomas produce such as baby food, heavy whipping cream, eggs, liver,
etc.  We have used these a lot as supplements so that we can keep the dose
of Prednisone as low as possible.
 
Hope this helps.
 
"It's just another day in paradise!"
[Posted in FML issue 1873]