Hi all,

I know all you shelter owner-operators are familiar with problems of
insulinoma and older ferrets, but some here may not. My eight year old
Ginger has insulinoma and since she is so old her life is very fragile
to say the least. Ginger has had a stuffy nose lately and went off her
diet. Early this morning I found her with low blood sugar and barley
responsive. I've seen this problem before over the years, so I swabbed
some honey on her gums and gave her a 0.2 cc shot of dexamethasone.
After determining that she was lucid enough to swallow I gave her some
thinned chicken-flavored Gerber baby food laced with a little heavy
whipping cream.

I am currently feeding this to Ginger every three hours and I am glad
to say that she is doing very well and eating about 25 cc of the food
mixture and smacking her lips.

The point is an older ferrets digestive system can get very delicate
and going off their diet for even 6 to 8 hours with insulinoma can, and
will spell trouble. So try to pay extra close attention to insulinomic
ferrets that are 5 or more years old that they are in fact eating
regularly. Consult your vet if you have any questions.

Duane C. Watts
Little Paws Ferret Rescue and Shelter

[Posted in FML 6562]