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Post by peacexlovexpets on Jan 20, 2021 10:35:03 GMT -5
Has anyone here had their ferret undergo surgery for insulinoma? My boy was diagnosed w/ insulinoma and adrenal disease about 3mo ago. At the time, his BG was getting as low as the 50s, and he had lost a fair bit of hair from adrenal. He has since gotten his des implant and has been gaining weight, but is nearly at 2mg/kg of pred and is now barely holding his BG above 70 when fasted. My vet is hesitant about prescribing the other drug as this ferret has a history of anorexia and being underweight; however, I'm not sure if I am fully confident in this vet preforming the surgery either - she did very little reading into how to give his adrenal implant and he came home with massive bruising and a hematoma because it was done so traumatically. Unfortunately, this is the only vet in a 3hr radius of me who will do the surgery (trust me, I have spent hours calling vets before I found her, and she is 1.5hrs away to begin with).
Has anyone opted for surgical excision of nodules/part of the pancreas? Have you done surgical excision of an adrenal gland at the same time? How did your ferrets do (longevity post surgery)? How was recovery in a home with multiple ferrets/other pets? What did the bill look like?
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Post by Sherry Stone on Jan 21, 2021 7:42:29 GMT -5
We did as meds were not controlling her. She was back on meds in a week's time. As a rule, it is always going to come back, so surgery isn't done nearly as often, as controlling with meds alone gives close to the same life span, without the physical stress of undergoing surgery.
Insulinoma seldom consists of one larger tumour that can be removed. It is several microscopic ones laced throughout the pancreas. Debulking can only remove so many of them, hence it returning and necessitating medication again. Not worth it IMO
*edited to add* The reason meds weren't controlling Willow's blood sugars is her "insulinoma" turned out to be a malignant variety. Between two meds being split to 6 times a day, and a raw diet, we had her for a year before she passed.
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Post by peacexlovexpets on Jan 21, 2021 10:25:50 GMT -5
We did as meds were not controlling her. She was back on meds in a week's time. He has only needed meds for 2.5mo, so the fact that he is already at 2mg/kg to me is absolutely bonkers (his dosage has gone up almost every other week). I really wished we could have gotten more time with him - even though he is 5yrs old we only had him for 2 as he was a rescue. How much time did you have left after starting diazoxide, and how did your ferret respond (weight loss/anorexia)? We will have to start it soon and I am really nervous going forward as he is just skin and bones to begin with. He still runs around and dooks and begs for attention, but he looks a mess and has constant diarrhea from the pred. |
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Post by unclejoe on Jan 21, 2021 18:44:12 GMT -5
Unfortunately, surgery is not cure for insulinoma. The cancer is generally spread throughout the pancreas and affects the islets of Langerhans. Even though you can remove a piece of pancreas, or larger tumors, there really is no way to get all of the cancer.
I have had a couple ferrets on pred for over 2 years, but I don't have any experience with diazoxide.
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Post by Sherry Stone on Jan 23, 2021 10:06:38 GMT -5
How much time did you have left after starting diazoxide, and how did your ferret respond (weight loss/anorexia)? We will have to start it soon and I am really nervous going forward as he is just skin and bones to begin with. He still runs around and dooks and begs for attention, but he looks a mess and has constant diarrhea from the pred. We had almost a year. She lost most of her fur from the pred as she was also very high dose. She also had massive pred belly. |
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