April (& all):

The person you want to see for any heart related services/diagnoses in
Ohio & any state bordering Ohio, would be Dr Linda Lehmkuhl, at MedVet
in Worthington (Columbus).

http://www.medvet-cves.com .
They have an 800 number listed on their website.

Many of you know the story of my baby Ariel. At age 2.5, she began to
experience lethargy, & her nose, ears, & gums were turning white after
playing just a short time. Numerous tests, ultrasounds, xrays, & even
exploritory surgery, showed nothing. After about 6 mos of my vet doing
tests, Dr B (a young, small town vet, but who's a wizard w/ exotics, &
a ferret owner himself) just happened to take an xray at the exact
right moment, & discovered that her heart was marginally enlarged. He
immediately referred us to Dr Lehmkuhl. She had been his veterinary
cardiology prof at Ohio State when he was a student there, but had
recently quit teaching & started working at MedVet, which is a huge &
highly specialized practice & emergency service. They got us in almost
immediately.

Dr Lehmkuhl did not only an EKG on Ariel, but also an echocardiogram w/
doppler studies on my little one lb baby. No iso or anything - she was
so gentle & took all the time she needed. She discovered that Ariel's
heart was beating at up to *380 bpm* when she was active (& no, that is
not a typo). Her heart was pumping more blood *in* before it could pump
the last batch *out*, which is why her heart appeared to be enlarged
on that one xray. Together w/ Dr B, the 2 of them concluded that Ariel
had superventricular tachycardia - which is completely undocumented as
occuring in ferrets. We started her on Atenolol, which only cost us
about $6 per mo. It had to be formulated into a liquid, but that was
pretty easy for my husband, who's a pharmacist. He actually mixed it
w/ FerreTone!

We lost our precious Ariel on 20 January of this yr. She was exactly
3 mos shy of her 7th birthday. Dr B is currently working on an article
on her case, to be published. She was riddled w/ cancer. Her heart,
however, showed no permenant enlargment, & was in almost perfect
condition, w/ only minor scarring.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/LinTK/cutie2-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/LinTK/Ariel19Jan07.jpg

Please get ahold of Dr Lehmkuhl. She is wonderful. She's not a ferret
specialist, but as she told us, "a pump's a pump."  A bit pricey? Yes.
But the fact that we got almost 4 more yrs w/ our beautiful girl was
*more* than worth it.

If you have any questions, please feel free to email me privately. I
live in Tiffin.

Lin, Oberon, Max, Puck, & Ivan
~ Missing my angel Ariel - 20 April 2000 - 20 January 2007. Wait for
me, my Baby Girl. I miss you so much. ~

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email me at: kay tee en eye el at double-u owe aich dot ar ar dot see
owe em
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[Posted in FML 5619]