>From:    PowerPage Communications <[log in to unmask]>
>A friend of mine lives in Dumont, NJ and she has had a bad experience
>with a vet from Passaic County, NJ.
 
This is my first post to this list.  I'd like to start off by thanking
everyone here for the wealth of information all of you provide.
 
Sounds like your friend went to the same vet I did.  My ex-wife has 6
fuzzies (Rascal, Brandy, Taz, China Cat, Bear, & Prissy) and I have 3
(Rubin, Cherise, & Stagger Lee).
 
The best ferret vet in Bergen County is Dr. Neal Beeber of the Rutherford
Animal Hospital (201 933-4111).  He knows ferrets, has owned ferrets, and
loves ferrets.  Because this particular animal hospital can hardly be called
inexpensive, we tried to limit our costs when several of our loved ones
began to exhibit symptoms of ECE (Green Slime).  We brought the worst one in
and Dr. Beeber gave him a subcutaneous injection of fluids (and antibiotics,
I think) suggested some tests, and dispensed Amoxycillin and a foul tasting
but quick acting anti-diarrheal.  He would have preferred keeping him
overnight but as I said, we were trying to limit our costs.
 
A few days later (a Friday) more of our ferrets began to show symptoms.  In
an attempt to save money (usually much more costly in the long run as we
later learned) and because we didn't relaize that Beeber had available
Saturday hours, we took 4 other ferrets to a Passaic County vet (on Route 46
in NJ).  Based on what I had already learned from Dr. Beeber, the wealth of
infomation on this list, and the wonderful erret FAQ's, it was clear that
the Passaic vet knew less than we did, clearly had no affinity for fuzzies,
and was no lower priced than any of the vets in the area.
 
The whole attempt to limit costs was foolish anyway because we were only
kidding ourselves.  We obviously weren't prepared to save money instead of
saving our ferrets.
 
So the following Monday, we brought all of the rest of the babies in to see
Dr. Beeber (Brandy, the first one he treated, was now doing much better).
We explained that we wanted all well treated and wouldn't only pull the plug
on spending where the prognosis was poor.
 
As all who read this list know, the prognosis for recovery from ECE is
extremely good as long as proper treatment is given.  Dr. Beeber elected to
keep only our sickest baby Prissy at the hospital for 2 nights.  Two others
got the subcutaneous injection and Amoxy, all the rest were just dispensed
the Amoxy.  The final bill was quite reasonable considering the amount of
treatment and includd a substantial multi-pet discount.  ALL are now fully
recovered.
 
By the way, I ran into the President of the local ferret club at Beeber's
office.  She told me that he is the only vet that their members use.
 
I learned 2 valuable lessons:
 
1) Do it right the first time.
2) There may be no such thing as too many ferrets, but one should notget
   more ferrets acquire more ferrets than they can afford to provide proper
   care for.
 
Hope this helps,
 
Jay Bergen
[Posted in FML issue 1905]