I was watching this video and I found it so cute the way the ferret was so deeply asleep. It reminded me of Mash, our first ferret, who used to sleep so soundly that I could dangle her upside down and she wouldn’t wake up. But that was before we had our first insulinoma experience!

CJ was the first to get the disease and that made me realise how woefully unprepared we would have been with Mash had she been going through an insulinoma coma, and then I started thinking about how to identify between the two.

My brave little old lady lost her fight and died on Friday morning

I honestly thought she was going to be with us for longer, as she was so active when she was up. She used to power walk around the house, so fast that I had to scurry to keep up with her if I was trying to give her her medication or smoothy.

On Friday, I came across an article about the cancer-fighting properties of papaya leaf extract which had been confirmed by researchers. The thing that pricked up my ears was the fact that this supplement was good for shrinking tumours in the pancreas and liver, amongst other organs.

So, first thing on Saturday I went galloping to the health food store and got a bottle of papaya (or paw paw, as it’s called here) leaf extract to give to Kahlua.

I’ve always enjoyed eating papaya and thought the liquid would taste something like the fruit … HAH! Was I wrong! Took a capful to taste and almost spat it out as it tasted like cider vinegar. Gah!

Another ferret owner asked me that question and rather than just reply to her, I thought I’d put the answer up as a post.

To be honest it’s difficult for me to say categorically that yes, it does work.  I got it when Muis was diagnosed with insulinoma and I gave it to her every day.  One thing I can say with certainty is that it seemed to help her because she used to wander around the house quite happily, she’d come and see me in the study when I was working and always wanted to be lifted up onto my lap, and if we went out, she’d be at the front door to welcome us home when we came back.

Has anyone tried this supplement on their ferret?

Why I ask is because I ordered another bottle of Transfer Factor Plus from my supplier and I mentioned Kahlua’s strange symptoms.

When I got the TFPlus, I found a sheet of  Legalon milk thistle capsules which they’d very kindly put in for Kahlua to try, to see if that would help her condition.

They even googled if ferrets could have it and told me they’d seen several websites which talked about ferrets having this supplement.  What wonderful people!