Hey All, First a little background. Noble is a sable mf boy of undetermined age. He is a rescue. Approx 2.5 months ago he was diagnosed with insulinoma. Prednisolone has not been real successful in controling/stablizing his blood sugar. We scheduled surgery for Noble for last Tues. On Monday the vet asked me to take Noble off of his pred as he did not want any in his system during surgery. Noble had his breakfast Monday am w/o medications. He was fine at that time. 4 hours later he was gurgling thru every breath he took. Noble went to the emergency vet where it was found his chest was filling with fluid. An injection of baytril was given, pred was given and we waited for test results. Some of the fluid had been drawn off. Noble showed remarkable improvement. Test results came back negative for infection. Noble was then scheduled for an echocardiogram. Here is what the report says from the echocardiagram said: Signifigant aortic insufficiency is noted in this patient. Echocardiographic findings are otherwise unremarkable. Mild aortic insufficiency is reportedly common in ferrets. Noble has significant aortic insufficiency. His aortic valves were subjectively hyperchoic, but valvular lesions were not visualized. Acquired causes of aortic insufficiency include cardiomyopathy (unlilkely) and bacterial endocarditis. (this is what dr. Howard thinks happened, he says the damage is irreversable) Chronic aortic insufficiency will result in a volume overload state of the left ventricle, and may lead to left CHF. Consider initiation of enalopril therapy in this patient (0.5mg/kg q 48 hors, gradualy increase to 0.5mg/kg q 24 hours to promote forward blood and minimize the AI regurgitant fraction. Recommend discussing case findings wiht an exotics animal consultant. Howard also says the ultrasound guy came in shaking his head saying well, we found something abnormal but arent sure .......... Howard feels the same way as the bacterial explanation should have shown up in the blood work with elevated white cell counts but didnt. He is going to get on VIN (vetrinary info network) to try to find some answers there. Has anyone out there had anything similar happen? What was the treatment, prognosis. What are we looking at long term/short term? Altho the damage is irreversable, is it controlable with drug therapy and is it possible to increase quality of life with the insulinoma surgery. Or is that too risky? Any one with any answers please respond. Fer8hapy, Karen (still praying that Noble might wardance some day) [Posted in FML issue 3149]