I got a call today that really bugged me and I wanted some other thoughts on this. My first hand knowledge of Insulinoma is rather limited, but from everything I have read... something just seemed strange here. This person took her 4 year old (female MF) ferret in for a regular check up. This ferret has been acting totally normal and healthy, no loss of appetite or energy, no seizures, nothing... perfectly normal. They did a blood screen, because the owner wanted a baseline reading to have on file in case there ever was a problem. The vet said that the Glucose reading was 72, which is low and indicated Insulinoma. They waited and did another blood test later and it was still in the same range. The vet has now informed her that the only treatment is that they must go in and do surgery within the next month to remove tumors. The surgery is expected to take 3 hours and cost $600-$800. It seems odd to me that such drastic action be taken with an otherwise totally healthy ferret on nothing more than a low reading on the bloodwork. I know our shelter vet reccomends medication therapy and we have always controlled and successfully treated cases of Insulinoma with meds. She says surgery is usually an option IF and WHEN the ferret has not responded to med therapy, or the tumor is too large. Furthermore she says that the surgery is usually under 1.5 hours (including a *looksee* for other problems) and her's usually run under $250. They have never done any sort of scan to look at the tumor, not tried medication, run any other tests... zilch! They are wanting to schedule this non-symptomatic, healthy ferret for a long, obtrusive and expensive surgery on nothing more than a blood test! I told the person I am not THAT experienced with Insulinoma, but it just didn't seem like normal procedure and I strongly reccomended a second opinion. She got the name and number of our shelter vet and is going to contact her. Those of you who have more experience with this condition than I... what's your thoughts? [Posted in FML issue 2975]