A couple of days ago, Lisa wrote to the list to ask about a technique for
venipuncture in ferrets.  I forwarded on her question to a vet. med.
student I know ..  who studied under the famous Dr. Susan Brown in Illinois
last summer.
 
He was kind enough to answer my question, and also to give me permission to
post the information to the list, to help others.
 
- Ela
 
Tom's answer:
 
Hi Lisa, I find the cephalic vein a good place to get about 1mL of blood.
I use a 27 guage needle in a 1cc syringe (it may help to hepranize the
syringe first).
 
The best way to restrain the ferret is to have your holder place the ferret
on a towel facing you.  Fold the towel over the ferret and use the right
forearm to make a little tube of towel holding the ferret in place.  i.e
the ferret is left of the holders forearm wraped 360 around with the towel
with the holder's forearm on top of the towel applying just enough tension
to keep the ferret in place.  Then the holder holds the ferret's head away
to the left and also the ferret's left leg with the holder's left hand.
(This can all be reversed if you want to get blood out of the other leg.
Adjust the towel so the head is just sticking out.  You take the ferret's
right front leg and pull it out holding on to the distal end just like if
it were a dog.  The holder holds off the vein with the right hand.  You
then apply alcohol to the skin to wet down the hair and look for a small
depression on the dorsal slightly lateral from midline aspect of the front
leg.
 
Ferret skin is thick and tough so you won't see the vein but just imagine
where it should be and stick the needle in.  The vein is superficial.  Do
not use too much aspiration pressure or you will collapse the vein.
Sometimes it helps to rotate the needle and to move it proximal/distal in
mm increments.  Pumping the foot can also help.  It can take a little
practice to get the hang of this but I have found it a very reliable
method.  I learned this during my externship at Midwest Bird and Exotic
Animal Hospital last summer.  By the time I was done I could get blood
about 90% of the time using this method.
 
You can also try jugular but we always anesthetize them first and just
remember the jugulars fan out lateraly towards the ears much faster than a
dog/cat.  I would help to do a couple of necropsies to see how the jugular
is laid out.  It also helps to run your finger crainial to caudal to where
you are holding off the jugular; you should feel a pulse wave where the
jugular vein is.  I hope this helps let me know if you have any questions.
 
Tom Chlebecek CSU'99
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[Posted in FML issue 2478]