Here is a past post from Dr. Williams that addresses a couple of important issues related to insulinoma meds.  Note also at the end when he brings up surgery he mentions both nodulectomy and partial pancreatectomy.  This is based on the results of a study that he and others did that found that the best results in dealing with insulinoma are surgery that gets rid of visible nodules outside of the pancreas and also removes part of the pancreas.  So, if you do elect to do surgery, be sure to have a partial pancreatectomy.  An experienced ferret surgeon would probably be able to know by feeling it what part needed removal.  I have included the abstract of that study below.

Managing insulinoma with meds can be very difficult and you have to really be diligent or else the result could be / will be a seizure.  You are already learning how to do it.  When you see that a particular dosage results in more active and normal behavior, then you are at or near the dosage for the current time.  Dosages will have to change over time as the disease worsens.

I would also agree, from experience, with what Tony wrote, in that giving meds three times a day, eight hours apart, has proven (for us) to be a lot more effective than twice a day, 12 hours apart.  When Neo was near the end, I had to go to 4 times a day, 6 hours apart for meds, and was giving him meals every 4 hours.   Not big meals, but just enough to keep his BG levels as high as we could (which at that point was dangerously low despite meds).

Tags: caring for ferrret, ferret care tips, ferret-health, insulinoma, ferret-care