>Hi everyone.  I have a 5yr old female going in for adrenal surgery
>(w/ the good chance of pancreatic tumors) on Thursday.  I have some
>questions -
>
> 1. Regarding food - Ground up kibble w/ baby food and ferretone
> mixed with some pedialyte (if needed) and water - is that...
 
I think that I would stick with the babyfood alone for 3-4 days if she
will tolerate it.  Pedialyte is really only necessary if she if vomiting
or having diarrhea.  Ferretone is also necessary only if that is the only
way that she will eat the babyfood.
 
Especially for short term supplementation, a/d doesn't offer much more
than babyfood.  If she is acting fine in 72 hours, you can start adding
the kibble back in.
 
> 2. Should I take some of the mixture to the vet and have them feed
>her right away? The surgery will be in the am and I won't be picking
>her up until 6pm, is that too long to wait?
 
No.  Remember that any general anesthesia shuts down the normal
peristalsis of the gut, and it takes a while to come back.  I generally
wait until the next AM to start feeding - they can have water that night,
but unless they are insulinomic, I find that most do better with about a
12-18 hours fast post surgery to allow the gut to "wake up".  Then the
next morning, feed a small meal of babyfood early, and if that stays down,
you can go every two hours, gradually increasing the size and decreasing
the frequency of the meals.
 
> 2. If pancreatic tumors are found - what can I expect next? ...
 
Most insulinoma patients are treated with tumor removal and most do not
require medication - but a lot do.  Usually there is a respite of several
months before medication is needed however.
 
A pancreatic tumor is generally an insulinoma until proven otherwise.  I
would prefer that they all are insulinomas, because in the rare instance
that it is not, it's usually something worse.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 3588]