Hi all,
I'm posting this to both the FAIML and FML in hopes of getting as much
information as possible, so please bear with me if you are on both lists
and are seeing my note twice :).  Bandit, my almost-6 year old insulinoma
boy, has been on .7cc of prednisolone 2x daily since this past March.  He
had surgery for the insulinoma last October (97).  My vet has Bandit's
prednisolone made up at a local pharmacy, and it has always been a rather
nasty, kind of sulfur- y smelling stuff.  Bandit never minded, though, since
I mix it in with his "mush" to give it to him.  Well, this last bottle that
I got a couple of weeks ago smells like strawberry and is very sweet
tasting.  I figured it was just a different compounding agent.  However, in
the last week or so, I have noticed that Bandit is much more lethargic than
usual, to the point that today, he was having trouble making it up the
stairs.  He just doesn't seem to be interested in doing anything any more
(though he did make a brief and somewhat half hearted attack on the vacuum
cleaner earlier).  So now I'm wondering could there be alot of sugar in this
pred.  formula which is throwing his glucose off?  Anybody have any thoughts
on this?  To make matters worse, my vet had to leave town on a family
emergency and won't be back in the office until next Monday -- I have
scheduled an appointment for Bandit on Mon.  morning, but I'd really like
some ideas for the meantime.  I do realize of course, that Bandit's
condition could be worsening and it is just a coincidence that it is
happening at the time of new bottle of pred.  But I don't want to continue
using this stuff if it could be making him worse.  If it is that the
insulinoma is getting worse, have any of you had a second surgery done
rather than just increasing or adding medication?  What did you consider as
pros/cons regarding a second surgery?
 
Thanks for any information you can share.
 
Lucie and Bandit (with Gandalf, Jasmine (vulva still swollen:( ), Aislyn,
Mandrake, Merlin and Myst)
[Posted in FML issue 2412]