Lisa, I don't think you ranted at all.  We look at the medical care of
some of our ferrets and think: yep, there is the replacement carpet we
didn't get, there is the new bathtub we didn't get, there is the new
shower stall we didn't get, there are the wall bookcases we didn't get.
I agree fully.  Often enough it is a matter of priorities and saving
for rainy days.  When it isn't then people can look around for other
area ferret vets when possible and also see about paying on time or
off-setting the costs with labor or some personal sacrifices.  At times
even then it will be too much of a burden, but often enough there is
some way to manage the care needed.
 
I think it is incredibly cool that you stopped smoking for your ferrets,
Lisa!
 
Sherman's diet worked!  We have him down to a level where he will be safe
enough for surgery.  I know there are too many ferrets here for folks to
recall particulars of many, but he is the little short tailed rescue guy
who finally had a steroid med control his IBD but it also caused a lot of
weight gain.  Then his R adrenal got bad.  So, he had Lupron while we
tried alternative IBD meds (which might as well be water for all they
did), increased his exercise, and had times every day when he did not
have any access to food.  It worked!  Unless something else bumps it he
will have his surgery next week.  Even now, though, with the excess fat
off him he is SO much more active and happy.  You should see his BOUNCE.
Poor little guy has been through way too much in his life, but this will
help him and meanwhile he is happy.  Oh, we think he is having vision
reductions, so we put a LARGE and DARK stuffed sock on a cord hung from a
pole because then the fishing-line-chase game is still possible for him
because he can see it.  If his sight reduces more we'll scent the sock!
(Scents are great for toys and for maps for a number of ferrets.)
 
Some personal news: MS looks less likely for me.  (Whew!) Though it is
not eliminated as a possibility it is unlikely.  We won't do a cervical
MRI unless I get new problems which could be neurological, partly because
that might not be useful in and off itself, anyway, given a prior problem
which may have scarred my spinal cord.  My ankle x-rays now show almost
the picture they should instead of a 90' rotation from the norm.  (I
hadn't realized they were that bad but then they showed my x-rays from
12 weeks ago with an A-P (anterior - posterior) view on x-rays taken from
the side.) We've added sleeping braces, and tomorrow I begin PT several
times a week since ligaments and tendons need stretching and in some
cases, like with the Achilles encouragement to reposition a bit.  Oh, and
luckily the "rolling marbles" sensation I'd begun having was soft tissue
instead of chips from bones moving around, good because such fractures
can occur and not even be noticed due to being in the noise with such
problems.
 
After being missing for something like 4 or 5 years we found the glasses
Ashling stole hidden high up under things in an open wooden box on a tall
piece of furniture we didn't even know she could scale.  It is SO good to
find those!  I guess it is only right that they couldn't be found until
after she had passed away.  Life-long successes are important.  It
emphasizes that she really is gone, which is sad, but also makes us proud
of how strong and smart she was, and how lucky we were to share life with
her.
 
Sue, hopefully her diabetes is temporary.  It is not terribly unusual
for a temporary diabetes to happen post-surgically.  There is a lot on
this in both the archives of the FML and FHL:
http://listserv.cuny.edu/archives/ferret-search.html , and
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org .  Test again and best of luck!
[Posted in FML issue 4455]