>Two questions: would folks whose woozles have had this procedure recommend
>it?
 
Both as a veterinarian and as a ferret owner who has dealt with this in my
own ferrets, I strongly recommend the surgery.  It dramatically increases
both the quality and the length of life, IMO, as long as the surgery goes
well, of course.
 
>And secondly, is the $800 figure pretty much the "going rate"?  (God, I
>hate writing this).
 
Surgery fees vary drastically depending on the location you live in and on
the experience of the vet doing the surgery.  That figure seems a little
high for my area, but may be accurate where you live.  Check around.
 
>Make that three questions: are there vet colleges that may have the
>surgery done by students at a reduced rate?  I live in XX,YY, but am
>certainly willing to travel.
 
You do *not* want an inexperienced surgeon doing surgery on a ferret, IMO.
We all had to learn on somebody's animal, but I had a whole bunch of
experience doing other surgeries before I did my first ferret surgery,
and I was glad for that.  The more experienced the surgeon, the less time
the surgery takes, and the better the ferret does overall.
 
Dr. Ruth
*****************************************
Save lives - spay or neuter your pet.
 
[Sukie note: those who need to shop around can find vet lists in BOTH
the shelter list and the recommended vets list in the Files section at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-List , in
http://miamiferret.org/fhc, and in multiple other links that can be found
through http://www.ferretcentral.org .  These are also handy when a person
moves or travels.]
[Posted in FML issue 3760]