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Post by cristina on Apr 25, 2009 17:27:55 GMT -5
I have a question about insulinoma, I dont know too much about it...I am looking into taking on a 4th ferret maybe, from my shelter nearby...the little guy I am wanting has insulinoma and is on kibble...
obviously I dont do kibble anymore, nor do I ever intend to again and I was wondering if its hard/dangerous to switch a ferret with this ailment to raw (I ask this due to the eating less since its undesirable at first and causing rise and fall in blood sugar)
Can someone who has some experience with insulinoma give me some information regarding this issue....thanks so much!!!
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Post by Heather on Apr 25, 2009 20:19:31 GMT -5
I fed my Zena entirely raw. It means she had to have food availble 24/7 especially toward the end. I made sure that I fed her in the beginning first thing in the morning. Toward the end, I had fed her in the morning and when she went to bed. In her very last days....I was feeding her 3x a day or every time that I saw her awake. The problem with insulinoma is that when they start to get hungry, they sometimes sleep through their hunger. Then, they are nauseaus....and they don't want to eat. You're diet has to be regulated. Most of the people that I've worked with switching their insulinoma ferrets have kept them on kibble, so that they're never without some sustenance. Did I lengthen Zena's life....I never will really know...she died of a brain tumour. As she did so well, and then crashed so quickly we never did get to try a lot of the drugs. She was never on pred. I just lost Aremis and he was on pred from the beginning....but he had lymphomas. He lasted a year. I know that he wouldn't have lasted as long as he did if he was eating kibbles, eventually the last couple of days he stopped eating raw but was still eating prey. I honestly believe that each ferret is different, you have to learn to read the signs that your furbaby is in trouble, long before they crash. This is just my experience. There is no kibbles in my house, but if it means keeping a ferret safe and healthy, I will feed it.
Good luck, every little lost soul deserves a loving home, even the sick ones.
ciao
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Post by mustelidmusk on May 11, 2009 21:14:34 GMT -5
I've mentored switching insulinomic ferrets to raw diet. I will say that when feeding raw to inulinomic ferrets, it's safest to switch to freeze-dried raw and wet raw as well rather than feeding wet raw only. and provide the freeze-dried raw between the two wet raw meals per day
-jennifer
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