My regular Vet called me on Thursday as promised.  She was concerned that
they were not eating and was not familiar with the term Duck Soup which
concerned me.  Thursday I pulled some recipes off of the internet
http:www.wuzzles.com/ferrets/documents/whatisducksoup.htm
 
Thank you so much Kevin & Julie Groninga for your wonderful web page, and
please thank Monica Maples for her great Duck Soup recipe.  Tigger and
Belle ate it up big time.  My vet wanted to wait until my scheduled
follow-up apt this Tuesday.  I was not willing to wait even though they
were eating the duck soup they are not drinking much and are not crazy
about Pedialyte (grape flavor).  So Thursday while at the pet store the
owner could tell I was frantic and in a hurry since the food has to sit in
hot water for a couple of hours and I needed Ferretvit.  She didn't have
any but turned me onto this Great Ferret Vet.  Friday I go to see this
Great Vet.  I ask him if he was a Great Ferret Vet and he said that he is a
ferret vet but doesn't know if he is a Great Vet.  Well when he went to
weigh Belle and Tigger one at a time after I told him that their tummies
were upset he carried them around their stomach.  No butt cradle, maybe I
am being too sensitive "Strike 1".  Then he had to refer to a exotic animal
manual ever 2 minutes "OK".  Then he started to tell me that I could spend
a small fortune trying to find out what was wrong with them and since they
don't live very long and they don't make great pets anyway you probably
don't want to do that "STRIKE 2".  I kept stressing my concern for Belle
since Tigger is feeling so much better today.  He said she could use some
fluids since she didn't look so great.  Grabbed her by her tummy AGAIN and
a minute later I heard her crying and fighting.  I listened for about 30
seconds and started walking towards the "restricted zone".  A guy who
worked their came up to me to stop me and before he had a change I asked
him if that was my ferret making that noise.  He said no and I walked right
through him and by my body language he did not dare try to stop me.  The
vet and a women had my baby pinned down and she was fighting them.  The
look on my face the vet was shocked to see me.  He then said that she is
fighting us.  I didn't know what to say I just stood their looking at the
vet like fine but you are next.  I walked back to the observation room
thinking do I stop him or will she be better after this.  I didn't know
what to do at Belle's expense.  He brought her back to me and he knew I was
mad.  He said he has never had a ferret fight like that.  I wanted so bad
to stop the fluids and pick her up off of that table and just walk out of
their.  She had a big blood mark on her from the needle she was fighting
(MAJOR STRIKE 3).  I pointed and said "Oh my G*d what is that?".  He was
like she is fine.  I asked him why is she shaking so bad then.  He said
they will shake from stress.  I drilled him with questions and he had no
real answers.  He told me to stop the Laxatone (he thinks it is bad for
ferrets), stop the antibiotics, and the nausea medicine.  He said they wont
eat because the food is bad.  I thought of that already and bought a new
bag of food from a different store and they won't eat that either.  They
have been on this food the whole of their lives.  He gave me no replacement
medicine and told me to call him on Monday to let him know how they are
doing.  Yea right, I'll be back real soon.
 
Is it possible that we could have a web page of suggested ferret vets in
each state that people could put their comments on.  The good ones I mean.
I don't want to put anyone out of business I just want a GREAT vet for my
babies.  If I was a new ferret owner I might of believed this guy.
 
What ferret food do you recommend (they hate cat food)?  I think Marshall
ferret food is great but maybe they do need a change.  I was told by a pet
store that this food would give them everything they needed.  Thats why I
never gave them Ferretone or Ferretvit.  But I will be giving it to them on
a regular basis now.
 
I know fluids are important but for future reference would you have snatched
your ferret up and left if they were causing her to fight so much and
hurting her because I was all too ready to but I was afraid that that was
the thing she needed to get better.
 
How often would you feed them Duck Soup.  He said three times a day, but I
know that their stomach is small.  I was thinking more of every 4 hours.
Plus I used Percise puppy food as a base for the duck soup.  Is this ok,
they loved it but I want to make sure.
 
I also wanted to thank everyone who e-mail me personally on my sick babies.
It was a great help and VERY MUCH APPRECIATED.
 
Thank you all and best wishes for good health.
 
Anna, Belle & Tigger
 
Belle: "I still don't feel good"
Tigger: "Mommy, Belle, I feel better"
Kylo (shar-pei): "Are you ready to play with me now"
Tigger: "I don't feel that much better"
Belle: "Mommy, why did you tell that icky man to hurt me, but thanks for
        the raisins"
[Posted in FML issue 2471]