Since I am one of the people who others may think is being insensitive,
I guess I need to explain my reasoning a little bit. My post in no
way was an attack on Ardith. I agree that she brought up some very
reasonable questions, and that she is taking the proper route by having
her vet contact the manufacturers and report the incidents. What
bothers me is that the Deslorelin implant debate has taken on a life
of its own. It has been discussed at length here, and on the FHL, and
someone has ever started a Facebook page to talk about it. It's being
discussed elsewhere as well. And, in these discussions are people who
are adamant that the implants killed their ferrets, despite no data to
back that up; no necropsy, no nothing, just their statement.
The reason this bothers me is that others may decide NOT to use the
implant because of these few outspoken people who are declaring that
their ferrets are DEAD because of the implant. So, I guess we should
just stick to a melatonin implant. After all, they work (?) and they're
cheap! Wait! Has that ever killed a ferret???. OK, then how about
surgery? Wait! I've heard of it killing ferrets also. Then, how about
Lupron? Well, that's so expensive and I've heard of it not working, and
maybe I've heard that it kills ferrets. So, I guess I'll just love on
my little ferret and do nothing. I won't worry about how it feels while
this disease progresses. I'll just take care of it here at home. After
all, I can't really see what's going on, and all the treatments are so
dangerous, so I'll just take my chances with its life.
My whole point is that we shouldn't be publicly telling the ferret
world that any treatment KILLS ferrets until we at least do our
homework. Before we do that, we should be prepared to have necropsies
done to narrow down the real cause of death. It, after a full necropsy,
the treatment is indeed what caused the ferret to die, or all signs
point to that, then by all means, report that to the ferret community.
But don't go around slandering a potentially life-saving,
life-improving treatment that may scare others away.
That is why I gave my example of my ferret who became very ill within
24 hours following an implant. Had I not taken him to the emergency
vet, and had he died within a few hours at home, and had I chosen not
to have a necropsy done, I would have logically blamed the implant.
But, an intestinal tortion has absolutely nothing to do with a
Deslorelin implant, and that's why he deteriorated and died. When I
posted this story on a thread on another list, it was completely
ignored. I guess it wasn't what the poster wanted to hear? They only
wanted to hear about deaths occurring within a YEAR after the implants
with no definitive cause of death. They later changed that to within a
month, I believe. Unfortunately, the person appears to have gone back
and deleted their entire thread, or at least I am unable to find it.
To be completely clear, this was NOT directed toward Ardith.
She brought the subject up calmly and as it should have been.
Unfortunately, others immediately jumped in making claims that this
caused a death. Ardith, if you feel that I attacked you in any way, I
humbly apologize. And, I am sorry for your loss. Some of us may not be
quite as emotional as others, and instead focus on the cause of death,
rather than the death itself.
There are those who think I shouldn't have posted what I did to the
FML, but I am seeing it take on a life of its own in multiple places,
and this forum reaches the most number of people.
Katharine
Florida
[Posted in FML 7417]
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