Well I had a third opinion on Friday with a vet who's supposed to be the
best ferret vet in town.  Bet you can tell it didn't go well.
 
For those who don't know (and yet care) I had my newest ferret descented in
December of 1996 by a vet in town that I didn't know at all (mistake #1).
The vet ruputured one of the glands while trying to remove it.  When I took
Rikkitikkitavi home the same day he was still bleeding all over the towel,
had a huge black bruise down one side (yes I should've taken a photo to
document but I didn't think of it).  The next day he already had a raging
infection and a fever.  I went back to the surgery vet who put him on
antibiotics.  14 days later the infection looked cleared but he suddenly was
having trouble defecating.  I went back and the surgery vet put him on amox
and dex to "clear up the infection".  14 days later no improvement...now
actually he had a sore on his anus.  I went to another vet in town.  She was
concerned about an anal stricture and reccomended laxatives/ high fiber diet
to get him past the trouble.  She even looked into options about the
stricture.  2 weeks later he was no better and she had no more answers to
give.  Recently I noticed that Rikki was still having trouble deficating but
now the trouble seemed more like he couldn't "pinch" off right.  Like he
couldn't full close off the sphincter.  And that sore was still there ( I
figured it was from dragging his hind end on the cage floor to get the feces
off his hind end).  Even worse when I noticed the anal smell again.  I had
given Rikki a bath and as soon as I got him back into the cage Whoosh there
was that smell again!!  Rikki started rolling around and in seconds he
smelled worse that he did before I bathed him.  So I asked around locally
until I got a name of another ferret vet in town and made an appointment.
 
I showed up half and hour early for my appointment and ended up waiting a
whole hour more to be seen ( I can fogive that alone).  The room I was
placed in was not clean (feather and bird nails tips all over- this still I
can excuse) The vet came in and I began to described Rikki's troubles to
date.  When I asked the vet about whether it was possible for enough cells
to be left from the surgery to be producing the scent again..he looked at me
and said ferrets are normally musky.  I told him I knew the difference
between the normal skin produced scent and the anal gland smell and I was
positive that he was capable of producing that smell again.  I told him I
had checked with some interenet references and they said it was possible as
well.  At this he rolled his eyes and laughed.  This is five minutes in and
I'm already mad at this vet.  He tried to convince me that the surgery was
so easy that no one could leave part of the gland is because it was such a
distintive looking tissue.  He took a look at his anus and said "Oh those
red thing?  Hemeroids..no biggie".  In his probing he made ones of these red
areas start to bleed.  He told me to put Prep H on them.  I wanted to know
why he had then, if the Prep H would get rid of them and how to avoid them.
He just couldn't tell me.  Then I got around to steering him back to the
anal control trouble...he said well it looked like he was fine to him.  By
this time I calmly explained that I had a good solid animal medical
background and that I was not making up any of the things I was describing.
He kinda just shrugged his shoulders at me.  So I gave up and put Rikki back
in his carrier.  Almost immediately Rikki deficated in the corner of it.
The vet took a look and said "Looks normal to me".  I picked Rikki back up
and pointed his rear end at the Dr. and said "Take a look..here's the
trouble." There was a bit to feces leaking out.  "That's not bad" he said as
he wiped it up.  But it kept coming out.  It took him 2 tissues to clean him
up.  "Oh it does look like he has some trouble with anal control.  I'll look
into it and see if there's any therapy for it and get back to you".  I told
him what I really wanted was a letter or just an official YES saying that my
ferret was experiencing trouble due to complications from the surgery.  At
this point all I wanted is someone to tell me yes this surgery did this even
if I don't ever approach this surgery vet with this information.  "Oh no!  I
can't say that...there's no way for me to know that the surgery did that!
There's many different reasons for it.  No I can't help you." At that I
thanked him and walked out.
 
I was furious.  I know in my heart that if I had not had this surgery done
or had I chosen the sugery vet more wisely that my ferret would be fine.  He
was prior to the surgery.  I'm angry because I have a pet who probably will
have trouble with this all his life and no one can help nor will take
responsibility for it.  I also can't understand why it's so hard to find a
competant, compassionate and knowlegdable ferret vet in Albuquerque.  I have
great bird, cat and dog vets!
 
Sorry to have vented like this...I only meant to post a short letter! Sorry!!!
 
Thanks for listening!
 
Kat L.
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[Posted in FML issue 1887]