I am with Jeff & the others, regarding the implants. I want to share
an example of something that happened here at our sanctuary.

Several months ago, we were asked to take in Mercedes & her cagemate
Feather from another shelter. Both were older, with health problems,
and were not thriving at the shelter. Both had suffered ECE & were
recovered, but fragile. Feather was ok--but Mercedes was very
lethargic, and her appetite wasn`t good. Her poo changed from runny to
almost ok, to slimy. After $415.00 worth of diagnostics, blockage &
tumors, etc were ruled out--and except for her insulinoma, the blood
panel looked surprisingly good. We nursed Mercedes back to health,
during the next couple of weeks. Her appetite grew, as did she. We
were so happy to see her playing! She was out of the woods, and
looking GREAT!!!

THEN--one night, a few weeks later, just as I was bringing her soup to
her, she collapsed. She began to gasp deeply, & went down. In seconds,
she was unresponsive. Certain that she was having a blood glucose
issue, I quickly grabbed for the dexamethasone & injected her. On to
fluids. No change. In three minutes, she was gone. Due to her very
pale color, I suspected a bleedout.

IF we had given a deslorelin implant to this ferret, we might have
suspected the implant was the cause. (But Mercedes hadn`t HAD an
implant. She never showed any signs of adrenal disease--just
insulinoma.)

The next morning, Dr. Katie did the necropsy--and we discovered
something. (Yes, it had been a bleedout.) We saw that this tiny little
"healthy" sable girl with the beautiful fur had had a very small, right
gland adrenal tumor which had invaded the vena cava. It`s location was
dangerous. Mercedes never knew what hit her. There was nothing anyone
could have done...

Imagine if there had been no necropsy, and we had posted that "Soon
after the implant, she died of a bleedout." This would have been enough
to unnerve a lot of ferret moms & dads, so that they wouldn`t even try
these potentially helpful implants.

It is important to get a necropsy (from a ferret-savvy vet) so you
know what the enemy was. We have had many calls, after the fact, where
people are beating themselves up "Maybe there was more I could have
done" "I`ll never know what killed him/her--but at the time, I just
couldn`t stand the thought of them cutting on him/her" "I never should
have given this/that drug. I just KNOW that`s what killed him/her. No,
you DON`T know what actually killed them, unless there`s a necropsy.
Once in a while even those are inconclusive, but usually there are some
answers. It`s worth the money for the peace of mind. You want to know
what the enemy was...

Condolences to all who have suffered a loss. I know how it feels.

Love,
Zoo

[Posted in FML 7415]