From: Lynn McIntosh [faiml@uswest.net] Sent: Sunday, August 13, 2000 10:16 PM To: FAIMLanon; FAIML Subject: FAIML #453; August 13, 2000 Ferret Adrenal/Insulinoma Mailing List (FAIML) #453; August 13, 2000 There are six messages in today's list: Analgesics for ferrets? Post-adrenal surgery aggression, other problems new to insulinoma and adrenal, lots of questions various a vet in Chicago suburbs prednisone variations FERRET ADRENAL/INSULINOMA MAILING LIST (FAIML) is a list featuring support and information about adrenal and insulinoma diseases. It comes out in digest format three to six times per week, depending on the urgency and number of posts. It is the opinion, only, of subscribers, and is not intended as medical advice, comes with no guarantee of accuracy, and is not meant to replace the examination and medical oversight of a qualified veterinarian. If your ferret is exhibiting signs of illness please take him or her to the most ferret-experienced vet you can. A ferret-experienced vet is one of the most important services you can provide for your ferret. TO POST: Write POST at the end of your subject heading (the more specific you can be in your subject heading, the better) and send to . URGENT POSTS: If you feel the message is urgent please mark it POST URGENT and I'll send it out to subscribers as soon as I can, then include the message in the next list. CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS: Please write POST ANONYMOUS after your subject heading if you don't want your address or last name published. SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE: Just use the one address for posts, subscription questions, requests, cancellations, comments, etc. The list is run by hand so just send me an email. ADRENAL/INSULINOMA WEBSITE and FAIML ARCHIVES/PHOTOS: For more info, check out Michael Janke's adrenal/insulinoma web site: . Past FAIMLs are archived there, with a search feature, and there is a FAIML album featuring pictures of FAIML subscribers and their ferrets. FERRET CENTRAL WEBSITE and PAM GREENE's FERRET FAQs: Ferret Central Website is the grand intersection of ferret websites, at . You can also find the Ferret FAQs there, which include invaluable FAQs on insulinoma and adrenal diseases. I forward these two FAQs to all new subscribers, and will gladly send them upon request. I also send the "Disease Package", a file that tells how to get all six of Pamela Greene's FAQs on ferret diseases. Pam also has excellent FAQ's about general ferret care. FERRET MAILING LIST (FML): The FML has 3,000+ ferret-loving subscribers and the topic is simply ferrets, ferrets, and more ferrets. Moderated by Mr. Bill Gruber, it's a great source of ferret entertainment and information. Visit FERRET CENTRAL on the web (see paragraph above) for more info on the FML. To subscribe to the FML, send email to its moderator, Bill Gruber, at and ask to be added. You can also try subscribing automatically by sending email to with the command SUBSCRIBE FERRET in the body of the email. Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 18:52:48 -0500 (CDT) From: "Buetow" Analgesics for ferrets? Hi, Again, thanks to everyone who responded to my posts about Buddy. I'm still not sure about surgery. Not doing surgery somehow feels like giving up on her, although the vet can't reassure me that surgery will necessarily help. Now I'm looking for analgesics (pain relievers) for ferrets that are easy on the digestive tract as well as the liver (since Buddy has liver problems). If anybody knows of anything, even if it's something herbal, please let me know. I appreciate all your help and support so very much. Thanks again. Chris and the Sunshine Gang buetowc@sls.lib.il.us Date: Sun, 13 Aug 2000 20:56:43 EDT From: Bugsy39@aol.com Post-adrenal surgery aggression, other problems been with the newsletter a long time, and its very helpful. to get to the problem, my male almost 5 yr old ferret, named rascal, has been thru the mill, since hes been a month old hes had everything, including 2 surgeries, his latest one tho has been for left side adrenal done in june 9th. its now aug 13th, he now shows signs of aggresiveness with his only cage mate and buddy, which he did last time as well, he's also losing slight hair on one side of his thigh, my major concern tho is, after all this, as of late, hes begun to dribble pee while he walks, runs, and yesterday he defecated as he walked, as tho he didnt know it had happened, hes always been very good going to the cage, and a very clean pet, i love him dearly, could it be the other adrenal, tho, they checked the other side when they went in for the first, hell be 5 in jan. like i say hes been thru other surgerys one for blockage and one for a tumor on his tail, which was performed 2 months prior to his adrenal surgery, plus he has cronic ulcers which we medicate him for. ive spent nearly $2.000 in a little over 2 months. im not putting a price tag on him, but someone must know whats wrong, any info can help, thanks diane and rascal, and ryley Date: Sun, 13 Aug 2000 05:25:02 -0400 From: "Hey Hey Hey" new to insulinoma and adrenal, lots of questions Hi All, My name is Karen and I am owned by 4 ferrets and two permanent rescues. My core crew is Jubilee, a tiny dark sable female, 2 years old. Rinkydink, a chocolate point female, 1 year old. Big Fun, a used to be rescue, 2 yr old dark sable male and Luna Moon, a 6 month old wanna be silver mitt (has one long stripe of silver down her back and covering her back heels, the rest is white), female. My two rescues are Noble and Blaze. Noble has insulinoma with a fasting bg of 50. After 2 weeks of 1cc of pred twice a day his bg only went up to 57 and that is after eating. He is scheduled for surgery on Tues, Aug 15 for debulking and possibly partial pancreas removal. Now for the questions. How long, generaly does it take for the blood sugar to stablize after surgery? How long is recovery? How often should I have his bg checked after surgery? I am sure I will have more questions as we go along. My other rescue Blaze is adrenal and I will be scheduling him for surgery as soon as Noble is in the clear. With my crew of 4 and the two rescues I can only handle one post op ferret at a time. Anyhoo, basicly the same questions. How long after surgery does the aggression lesson, till the hair grows back? Will I have to do a gradual intro back into the business. Blaze has been so aggressive he is breaking skin so I have had to seperate him from the others. Also, how long is recovery time from adrenal surgery. Thanx for the help, Fer8happy, Karen Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 22:46:39 +0000 From: "Karen Purcell, DVM" various Donna, > Vet near Chicago? Treats . If anyone knows of any good ferret vets in the > suburban Chicagoland area, please let me know. > How about Midwest Exotic? That is the hospital Dr. Susan Brown founded, and it does a ton of ferret work. Sarah, > Well I took Konrad to the vet yesterday. At first, she was all for lowering > his Prednisone to 1/4 of a pill twice a day (from 1/2). This was because of > his lack of symptoms since his one attack. However, after testing the Blood > Glucose, which was still in the mid 50s (this was after fasting for 5 hours), > she decided to stay witht he 1/2 pill. He's only been on prednisone for two > weeks. How long does it take before Glucose levels should rise? How > concerned should I be if his activity is still up and he's not showing > symptoms? My vet was shocked at the level considering his alertness. I would expect a response by now. How low was the original blood sugar? -Dr. Karen drkaren@world.std.com Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2000 18:34:44 -0500 From: "Rich & Stacie Armstrong" a vet in Chicago suburbs A great practice of ferret-knowledgeable vets can be found in Westchester, IL. We used to go to Midwest Bird and Exotic Animal until the drive out there just became unbearable (we live in the city and found a fabulous ferret vet a couple blocks away). You can reach Midwest at (708) 344-8166. They're really quite well-respected in the ferret world, so I hope they are close enough to were you live. Good luck! Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2000 10:21:09 -0400 From: "Michael F. Janke" prednisone variations To answer Lynn's comment about the pred dosage being on my web site... I don't think so, unless it's mentioned in passing in one of the articles. I'm not up on the pill form but I'm aware of a few variations in which one might get the oral suspension of prednisolone. It's usually stated in milligrams per 5 milliliters. Most likely because 5ml is one teaspoon, a typical human dosage measurement. I've seen liquid pred in 5mg/5ml, 6.7mg/5ml and 15mg/5ml, so it would seem important to know what you're getting. I'm sure your vet will make sure you're giving the right dosage based on the form of pred, but if someone tells you they're giving their ferret 0.1ml, you can't just say, "That's not enough" without knowing the variation they're using. If it's the 15mg/5ml Prelone, then it'd be the same as giving 0.3ml of Predia-Pred at 5mg/5ml. According to "Ferrets, Rabbits and Rodents - Clinical Medicine and Surgery", the dosage range of pred for insulinoma is 0.5 - 2mg/kg, twice a day, and when that is no longer effective, Proglycem can be added to the regimen and it may be possible to reduce the amount of pred. For the ferrets, Mike * Michael F. Janke, mjanke@miamiferret.org * South Florida Ferret Help Line, 305-752-7040 * * Website: http://www.miamiferret.org * Adrenal/Insulinoma web site: http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc ----------------------- End of FAIML #453 -------------------------