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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2011 12:42:41 GMT -5
Yes. Pixie is my first ferret period. She's my heart ferret and I love her more than I ever thought possible. I cannot even bare the thought of losing her ;(
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Post by miamiferret2 on Jun 14, 2011 12:51:17 GMT -5
She ate evo, wysong II, vitalin, zupreem. well, the EVO you were feeding was the best of all. but the rest of those kibbles is enough to give a ferret insulinoma IMO. wysong arch II has corn, brown rice, ground wheat and ground oats in it (I don't understand wysong. they are the "grain free" "starch free" people they make excellent kibble and yet, they make this ferret kibble that has all this crap in it that they KNOW is not good for ferrets). vitalin has rice. regular zupreem has wheat flour, ground wheat and brewer's yeast. you know she may have had this condition for a while now but it has not been bad because you switched her to a raw diet. so i think that yours is a unique situation. maybe the tumors were already there when you switched her but the better diet masked the symptoms for alot longer. i don't think an ultrasound is going to do much. most of those tumors are small.
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Post by miamiferret2 on Jun 14, 2011 12:54:20 GMT -5
I know you are freaking out but your bg may be way off. you probably didn't get enough blood on the test strip. you will take it again on a 4 hour fast. you will take her to the vet. you are not losing her right now. unfortunately something always takes them from us. and keep this in mind: USUALLY insulinoma is not what they end up dying from. it is manageable with meds and a good diet. the examples i give you of the ferrets lasting about 1 year are people that feed kibble. you are in a unique situation. her diet is ideal for treating this condition.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2011 12:56:55 GMT -5
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Post by miamiferret2 on Jun 14, 2011 12:59:52 GMT -5
and let me tell you, my boy lemmy was 7 years old when he was diagnosed with insulinoma. he was on much worse stuff. he ate totally ferret active and "older ferret" formula his WHOLE LIFE. i had him since he was 6 weeks old. he was tiny. when he was diagnosed, i freaked out. i was so upset. this was my baby. i've had many other ferrets before but he was one of those special ferrets. i immediately did research, got him on wysong and managed his bg for a while that way. his bg was in the 70's when he was first diagnosed. but the wysong arch 1 helped tremendously. the vet was very surprised. anyway, i eventually ended up putting him on pred because his bg becane too out of whack even with the arch 1. i had to put him to sleep when he was a few months past his 8th birthday. his bg was in the 90's. what a shame! i was still managing his BG well with pred and diazoxide but his adrenal issues were so bad i had to let him go.
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Post by miamiferret2 on Jun 14, 2011 13:01:07 GMT -5
get her kidneys checked.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2011 13:03:52 GMT -5
Calling vet now for price quote on BG test.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2011 13:04:14 GMT -5
Kidney check - is that a blood test? Some kind of panel?
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Post by miamiferret2 on Jun 14, 2011 13:05:13 GMT -5
BG test is like $15 its like the cheapest thing ever.
she needs a cbc, urinalysis. just tell the vet you want to check her kidney function
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Post by miamiferret2 on Jun 14, 2011 13:07:10 GMT -5
my Cosmo's bg was in the 60's when he was in renal failure. he was 1.5 years old. it was an awful experience that i don't like to think about. check her mouth. smell her breath. does it smell normal? is her urine clear or yellow?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2011 13:07:49 GMT -5
The visit is $35, BG is $10. I could have him make a house call for an extra $10 and see if he can check the others for cheap/free. Should be able to see her tomorrow at 9 AM. I'll have to wait until next week or so to do the cbc and urinalysis. Those are pricey! The cbc alone is $90
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2011 13:08:25 GMT -5
check her mouth. smell her breath. does it smell normal? is her urine clear or yellow? Breath smells normal. Urine yellow. Any other signs of renal failure I should look for?
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Post by miamiferret2 on Jun 14, 2011 13:09:45 GMT -5
yeah but i'd do it jackie. because if she's having issues with her kidneys its better to catch it early so you can treat it. not in my situation where they were trying to flush out his kidneys with an iv push every few hours. he had round the clock care. the vet was taking him home at night with him. nothing worked. they were too far gone. his kidneys were kaput. this happened to me 9 years ago and i'm still traumatized over it.
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Post by miamiferret2 on Jun 14, 2011 13:11:43 GMT -5
that's good. (my cosmo's breath smelled like ammonia and he had sores in his mouth. ) how are the whites of her eyes? white or yellowish? how are her gums pink?
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Post by miamiferret2 on Jun 14, 2011 13:13:08 GMT -5
i'm not sure and i can't call her bc she's at work right now but i THINK my friend's ferret had a low bg when he had kidney stones.
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