Help me~my ferret have insulinoma...

[Deleted]

Hi

I have a male ferret named Hero,he got adrenal tumor on the left side about a year and half ago,
Our Vet suggested use nupron as treatment since Taiwan vet doesn't have much expeience about this surgery.he's been doing great . I took him to get a blood test this Monday,and found out that he's right side also have tumor now,and might spread to lymphatic system,and his blood suger was very low at 49'...

But our Vet still suggested we use medical treatment,didn't explain why not do the surgery..maybe because the adrenal tumor has been spread?

I'm so worry that Hero might get into coma if his blood suger is too low,so I feed him every 4-6hours...it's fine with me since I don't have job right now,but what can I do if t I get a job later?

I just wish that he could suffer less disease.
Should I ask our vet to do the surgery?

I have another question about diet,since he refused to eat the kibble ,I made him chicken soup and feed him half cooked chicken meat with chicken liver and with half pig liver,I wanna to change his diet from kibble to raw diet,but currently,he refused to eat raw only mixed one.is that ok?

Please help me!thanks so much

[Deleted]

I have Rikku on prednisone. He gets meat baby food with his meds in the morning and at night. I make sure he always has food available. Hes been doing fine with this. No crashes. I haven't been feeding him ever 4-6 hours or anything like that. Don't know if this works for all ferrets. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in.

I switched my ferrets to raw soup at first. They would not eat chunks to begin with. The soup is fine temporarily. I think your going to need to add another excreting organ, heart and ground up egg shell until he will eat bone. No need to half cook the chicken. Keep it raw.

[Deleted]

Hi and Welcome to the HFF

How old is Hero? Your vet may not want to do the surgery, if Hero is older and not strong enough for surgery. Unfortunately, tumors may come back and while surgery helps remove those tumors that are already there, other tumors may show up. The Surgery is tough on a little one and recuperation is rough. I think that may be his reasoning.

Does your Vet believe that Hero has Insulinoma and Lymphoma?

Hero does need to eat regularly if he has Insulinoma. We use a soupie recipe that is balanced and full of nutrients. The recipe for the soup is"

8oz of RAW chicken. Ferrets need raw, cooking removes nutrients.
1-2 chicken hearts
1/2 chicken liver 1/2 tsp of dried eggshell powder.
Save some eggshells, dry them out for a day or two and grind them into a fine powder.

Blend this up and you can freeze some of it, in ice cube trays and then just pop them out and defrost them.

After you make the soup, put some in a bowl and sit with Hero. Dab a little on his mouth and he will lick it off. Then dip a spoon into the bowl and offer it to him. He will need some coaxing and you sitting with him, until he understands that this is food and good for him.

Ferrents imprint on their food and it takes attention and patience to get them to eat a new food. Keep with it and he will get used to it and eat better. It may take a few days or so, but he will learn to like it.

Good Luck and I hope your Hero gets better.
Don't hesitate to ask questions.

[Deleted]

Oct 23, 2014 12:11:40 GMT -5 @poncesmom said:

Hi and Welcome to the HFF

How old is Hero? Your vet may not want to do the surgery, if Hero is older and not strong enough for surgery. Unfortunately, tumors may come back and while surgery helps remove those tumors that are already there, other tumors may show up. The Surgery is tough on a little one and recuperation is rough. I think that may be his reasoning.

Does your Vet believe that Hero has Insulinoma and Lymphoma?

Hero does need to eat regularly if he has Insulinoma. We use a soupie recipe that is balanced and full of nutrients. The recipe for the soup is"

8oz of RAW chicken. Ferrets need raw, cooking removes nutrients.
1-2 chicken hearts
1/2 chicken liver 1/2 tsp of dried eggshell powder.
Save some eggshells, dry them out for a day or two and grind them into a fine powder.

Blend this up and you can freeze some of it, in ice cube trays and then just pop them out and defrost them.

After you make the soup, put some in a bowl and sit with Hero. Dab a little on his mouth and he will lick it off. Then dip a spoon into the bowl and offer it to him. He will need some coaxing and you sitting with him, until he understands that this is food and good for him.

Ferrents imprint on their food and it takes attention and patience to get them to eat a new food. Keep with it and he will get used to it and eat better. It may take a few days or so, but he will learn to like it.

Good Luck and I hope your Hero gets better.
Don't hesitate to ask questions.

Hero is 6 years old,
And the Vet wasn't so sure about lymphoma,but quite sure about insulinoma.

I want to feed him with raw,but he refused to eat raw chicken meat,the only raw meat he would accept is beef ,but when I mixed it and chicken liver with blender ,he won't eat...maybe because the liver smell?

So instead,I feed him with chicken soup and cooked meat with some liver blend together ,like home made baby food,I know the best is feed him raw diet,but at the moment.
can I feed him with cooked chicken,Cooked liver with some eggshell and add some ziwipeak to replace his old kibble(I use Origen and acana cat food)?
I don't want fern him kibble anymore...

[Deleted]

Oct 23, 2014 7:57:17 GMT -5 @littleweasels said:

I have Rikku on prednisone. He gets meat baby food with his meds in the morning and at night. I make sure he always has food available. Hes been doing fine with this. No crashes. I haven't been feeding him ever 4-6 hours or anything like that. Don't know if this works for all ferrets. Hopefully someone with more experience will chime in.

I switched my ferrets to raw soup at first. They would not eat chunks to begin with. The soup is fine temporarily. I think your going to need to add another excreting organ, heart and ground up egg shell until he will eat bone. No need to half cook the chicken. Keep it raw.

How many times you feed your baby?twice a day?

[Deleted]

Hero is six years old. That may explain why your Vet is reluctant to do surgery.

At Hero's age, he is used to his food and has to be coaxed and convinced that this new food is safe and is actually food. That takes time.

The important thing is that he eats regularly. You don't want him to have a seizure or crash from low blood glucose. If he does, then put a little karo syrup or honey on his mouth. That will bring him out of his seizure.

Does your vet have Hero on any Medicine?

I'm bumping this thread so that some of our Senior Ferrents can offer advice.

[Heather]

The reason why the vet doesn't want to do the surgery for insulinoma is it's never successful. They can never get all the cysts that have formed in the pancreas when they debulk it. Most times the ferret never even gets to come off the prednisolone and it is not worth the stress or risk of surgery and anesthesia.
The common drug for treating insulinoma is prednisolone or pediapred. I prefer using pediapred only because the ferret actually likes the flavour. Pred or prednisone is not used because it's much harder on the liver
The regime for medicating is BID or twice daily. Feeding must occur every 4 hrs either by you or by the ferret. Raw fed ferrets are better able to stabilize their BG than kibble fed ferrets and are also able to better handle a plummeting BG. If you're seriously considering going to teach your wee one to eat raw foods, I would strongly suggest getting a mentor. Dealing with an insulinoma ferret is not an easy switch.
ciao

[Deleted]

How many times you feed your baby?twice a day?[/quote]

I give him meat baby food twice a day with his meds and I make sure he always has raw food available. He eats often enough on his own to prevent crashes. I would think this doesn't work for all ferrets.