>Many of you know that I had one of my personal ferrets, Dijon, have
>surgery for insulinoma - they removed the most affected part of the
>pancreas and sent it away for testing.  Dijon is going to be 8 next
>month.  She is doing okay for an older ferret - instead of bouncing back
>she is steadily improving.  Believe me, I'm happy for that.
 
>Since its one of my ferrets - well, it couldn't be a normal cancer - oh
>no not here!  Her cancer is an exocrine cancer - its preventing the
>release of enzymes to help her digest.  From the little I found easily on
>the web, it doesn't appear to be a normal thing for ferrets.  My question
>for those having gone through this and to the vets that are on this list:
>whats our next step?
>
>My vet has ordered prozyme (I think) for her but it won't be in until
>next week.  She is eating on her own, but her stools are still diarrhetic.
>Her regular diet is pro plan kitten - yes I know its not great, but after
>ECE a couple years ago, its the only thing that she will eat.  I'm not
>pushing it at her age.  I am supplementing her with a feeding at least
>once a day of the A/D, baby food and some nupro mixed in.  She won't take
>it from your hand, but will readily take it from a syringe.
>
>Any ideas or things that I can do to help her are welcome.  We do know
>that the cancer is throughout her pancreas and so her insulinoma symptoms
>will recur - what we are aiming for now is quality.  Thanks.
 
Dear X:
 
Unfortunately, outside of prozyme and probably a gradual change to a more
digestible diet such as baby food or duck soup (even Pro Plan is kibble,
which will eventually outstrip her ability to digest), there is not much
you can do for a disseminated exocrine malignancy of the pancreas.  The
key will be to find a diet that is so easily digestible that the lack of
pancreatic enzymes (which are mostly required for protein and fat
digestion, but not so much for carbohydrates) will be of less consequence.
 
These tumors do not tend to metastasize as quickly as they do in humans,
in which they are one of the most aggressive malignancies (Michael Landon
had this particular neoplasm), but they do eventually destroy the
remaining normal pancreas (and likely over time, will do a number on the
insulinoma as well, so do monitor that glucose from time to time.
 
With kindest regards,
 
Bruce Williams, dVM
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list
 
[A quick reminder from Sukie: although there is a widespread habit of
calling adrenal and pancreatic growths in general "cancers" the reality
is that most such growths are NOT.  Folks will want to look at the
introduction section for the FML up at top and find how to search the
files.  Then check into a cross-post from Bruce Williams which explains
the differences among growths that are and those which are not.  Do not
confuse this growth with any of the more common ones.]
[Posted in FML issue 3555]