To K&M Cheeseman,
I am the person who wrote "The Horrors Of Tribrissen"!!!  I think you have
totally misunderstood what I was saying!!!  I not only have ferrets but I
have had dogs ALL my life!!!!!  I consider it a pretty bad track record for
just ONE hospital to have had FOUR dog deaths in recent times that seem to
have been associated with this drug!!!  Can you imagine the #'s that have
been reported to the company?????  I did read the next nite's FML story from
Carla and I then was informed that this was the first ferret case they had
seen with these circumstances!!  Do you ONLY care about ferrets and to hell
with all the dogs that are reacting to this drug?????  Well I care for the
well being of ALL animals!!!!  I am simply going to send the vets a copy of
the story exactly as it was written with no comments of my own!!!!  I would
draw your attention to the fact that Carla said, "The manufacturer had been
previously contacted and is aware of the problem.  THEY DO NOT THINK THERE IS
A REASON TO RECALL OR RE-EVALUATE THE DRUG! THE MANUFACTURER HAS ALSO BEEN
UNWILLING TO DISCLOSE THE NUMBER AND SEVERITY OF REACTIONS"!!!!!  Now you
tell me does this sound like a company that cares more for animals or their
bottom line??????  It seems painfully obvious to me what the answer is!!!!!
I have ABSOLUTELY no problem with this drug being used if it is the animals
ONLY hope for help, but if there is another drug that could be tried first I
think common sense mandates that under these circumstances it should be tried
first!!!!  Granted people have reactions to to drugs too but they have a
voice with which to speak up and get help before it is too late, when was the
last time an animal was able to tell you that it wasn't feeling quite right
after being given a medication?????  Also when Doctors and the public become
aware of a large amount of people having bad reactions to a drug then they
watch them much more carefully and they seriously talk to the patient about
potential bad reactions and what they should do if they are having those
symptoms!  I simply want all the vets to be aware of the potential problems
with this drug and to use their own judgement once they have ALL the
information!  Do you really consider that to be an overreactive attitude??
 God help us if that is the way people think in this world and if some people
want to take away other people's right to speak out and try to make a
difference for the better!!!!  I take GREAT offense at being called
overeactive and hysterical because of my viewpoint!  I am NOT attacking this
drug but it seems a bit fishy to me when the company doesn't see ANY problem
with these kind of deaths occuring in animals treated with the drug and they
REFUSE to release information concerning this drug!  That information should
fall under public domain, if a company refused to give me such information on
a drug I was taking you can damn well bet that I would be consulting my
doctor about it and asking for any other possible medication to take instead
of that one!
I also thought that you were EXTREMELY CRUEL to compare what I said and what
I'm trying to do with possible "inflammatory rhetoric that organizations such
as California Fish and Game and HSUS have used to try and perpetuate an
illegal ban on ferrets."  ( By the way it is NOT an ILLEGAL ban, it may be
immoral, unfair and cruel, but it is legal!)  I sure don't consider wanting
to inform vets of these incidents as "propagandizing scare tactics".   You
might have considered privately e-mailing me about your concerns and asking
me what exactly I planned to do and why before you took it to the public and
(what I felt) was tried to publicly humiliate me and discredit anything I
have to say or try to do!!!  It would have been much more appreciated and
better accepted than the way you chose to go about this!  I would NEVER
attack someone for wanting to HELP and by doing what you have done all you
have accomplished is a reaffirming of my sense of urgency in informing vets
of the possibility of animal deaths related to the use of this drug!!!
I wrote this letter yesterday and as of last nites FML (which I hope you
read) the results are now conclusive that Halie died do to a reaction with
this drug! I never considered Carla's letter to be ANECDOTAL in the first
place.  It seemed to me that they had done all the research on this subject
that they could at the time before writing to tell us all about it!
To Halie's Mom:  Thanks so much for what you said last nite it made me feel
very good to know that at least you understood my motives and my heart
concerning this situation.  I have definitely been attacked by some for what
I said and did but that won't ever stop me doing or saying what I believe in!
I have had to fight for my own rights all my life and people like that don't
scare me a bit!!  This will be the last I have to say on this subject but it
sure won't be the last I have to say!!!!!!!  Thanks again to you and all the
people that did support me!!!!
 
[Moderator's note: I think there may have been some misunderstanding on
both sides of the issue.  I agreed to post this (a revised copy) since
Kelleen agreed to not draw it out past her response today. BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 1275]