>BUT--- when the dumper is saying that he or she is going to immediately
>go out and get another pet -- then THAT needs to be addressed, for moral
>reasons if nothing else.
 
I agree.  We have also here had some posters who repeatedly "got rid
of" ferrets, then did NOT change the reasons why they dumped the ferrets
(lack of money for health care, allergies, lack or space, lack of time,
spouse or roommate hates them, kids are too rough, can't deal with the
smell/digging/litterpots/costs/etc.) THEN went out asking for or
acquiring more.  That actually can fit into the profile of an animal
hoarder.  Most animal hoarders have many animals but some are
obsessive/compulsive about having animals even if only a few when they
are unable to care of them.  Yes, some just want to have everything their
own ways (immature and expecting to be spoiled) and to "get rid of" the
sick ones and keep only the healthy ones so those folks just need to grow
up, and some have animals dumped on them when they don't have the ability
to care for them as happened to me when I was young so I had to find an
alternative for her, and some caring folks simply have the circumstances
of like make one specific situation untenable, but some such folks
actually are emotionally ill and need help in that regard while not
having animals they can harm.
 
The good points are that
1. the immature ones can grow up over time as they try,
2. the ones who aren't able to care for an animal or animals dumped on
them whether or not due to changes in circumstances usually care enough
to find an alternate home, and
3. the folks who are mentally ill are in a small minority and with
gentle nudging from concerned individuals may seek help for themselves.
 
BTW, only one state (IL) has laws against animal hoarding (and other
states can use that as a template), so PLEASE don't wait on this: get
the info in the following sites to your state's political figures:
 
Political-health things:
http://www.fda.gov/cvm/index/ade/pharmacobrochure.pdf (federal
reporting of adverse veterinary drug reactions),
http://www.nal.usda.gov/awic/legislat/awa.htm (animal welfare act) and
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ac/publications.html (fed. regulations and
more), http://www.tufts.edu/vet/cfa/hoarding.html, and
http://www.tufts.edu/vet/cfa/MunicipaLawyer.pdf , and
http://www.legis.state.il.us/publicacts/pubact92/acts/92-0454.html,
and
http://www.mhsource.com/pt/p000425.html (hoarding and how it hurts animals)
 
Was pathology done on the cysts?  That is going to be the only way to get
an idea how much of a chance the little one has.  There are a LOT of
things which simply can't be told from gross examination and therefore
require pathology to be run.  BTW: Here's some good info on liver tests:
 
Confusion and Controversy in Interpreting Ferret Clinical Pathology Data
in http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
 
>Is there a website that I can look at to find out exactly how long
>contagion is possible with each of the contagious ferret diseases?
>Such as the adrenal one and the ECE and any others?
 
For ECE go to the AFIP site above.  I belive that you have confused
adrenal growths with ADV; for some reason multiple people have recently
suddenly done that.  There must have been something confusing in a
different list or elsewhere.  ADV (AD) is Aleutian Disease Virus -- NOT
adrenal -- and info can be found at
http://www.ferret-universe.com/health/adv.html#test
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list/files/unitedceptest.pdf
http://www.avecon.com, http://www.geocities.com/russiansmom/
http://www.geocities.com/wolfysluv/adv-straight.html,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/advferret/
among other places which I am sure others will readily list.
 
>This is why herbal medicine is so slow to catch on.
 
I strongly agree!  I think that if herbal meds had more oversight so
that folks could be sure of things like amounts, and if they included
inserts on uses, hypothetical uses, cautions, side effects, and
counter-indications that they would be more widely used.  How many folks
actually spring for references like we do?  Not many.  Then folks have
bad experiences which could have been avoided if they had the info they
needed up front.  Thanks for giving the refs.  They sound like they are
from 1999 on like mine are, too, mostly.  When my budget allows I'll be
getting them, too.  Right now, I've saved the info.  Meanwhile, I expect
that you will find the counter-indication (medical conditions, other
meds, etc.) info in the ones I mentioned to be of use, too.  After all,
most poisons in the world are also naturally occurring ones, and what is
or is not poison can be dependent on the animal species, dose, etc.  We
use herbs, too, but Steve and i do find it a royal nuisance that so much
of the literature does NOT contain cautions, counter-indications, and
such even though they are ESSENTIAL.
[Posted in FML issue 3875]