Thanks so much to Nancy Tresch who put our shelter on her "send a buck to a
shelter" list.  While these donations will not solve our BIG problems, every
dollar helps and the thoughtfulness involved in sending these donations
inspire we shelter owner/operators to keep up the hard work.
 
A note on drawing blood from ferrets for lab tests; the sites listed in a
recent post sounded like something straight from an animal torture text.  A
cardiac stick is a needle straight into the heart.  Decidedly NOT something
either you or your ferret will enjoy, and it can do permanent damage to the
heart.  No responsible vet does this to obtain a blood sample.  Tail sticks
are also painful and I never heard of it done to ferrets in a normal vet
setting.  The vena cava is the main blood supply vein of the the body and is
a large vessel running from throat to groin.  It is buried deeply in the
chest and abdomen.  No responsible vet uses this source either--it can be
dangerous.  Once nicked, the ferret can bleed to death.
 
Under normal veterinary circumstances, the jugular vein is best for large
amounts of blood, such as needed for a complete panel but the jugular can
be hard to find on ferrets.  It has two branches; one down each side of the
windpipe on the throat.  It takes an experienced vet or tech to do it
correctly but is less hazardous even if it is jabbed several times and
missed.  If only a small hematocrit tube is needed (professional labs only
need a tiny amount of blood to do a lot of testing), the simple way is the
cephalic vein, one of which runs right down the top of each arm of the
ferret.  Using a piece of latex tubing as a small tourniquet, knoted once
and secured with a hemostat clamp, the leg is minimally shaved and
disinfected with alcohol.  A needle without syringe is slipped into the
vein and the hematocrit tube filled directed from the hub of the needle.
If a larger amount of blood is needed, a 1cc syringe can be attached but
care must be taken not to draw too hard or the vein will be squeezed shut.
This method causes the least trauma to the ferret, both physically and
psychologically.  If your vet needs info on clinical methods used with
ferrets, our shelter will gladly provide a booklet on this and common
ferret illnesses, typical behavior, care, etc.  at no charge.  Just e-mail
a physical address and we will send it along.  This is part of our service
as a shelter.
 
Ferret Rescue of the Western States, Colorado Springs, CO
[Posted in FML issue 2300]