Your post was EXCELLENT!
Yes, vet care is legal to provide for ferrets in California and
California vets can be found by using numerous resources.
http://www.ferretnews.org/clinic.html
http://www.ferretsanonymous.com/medical.html
More generally:
You can find one in Miamiferret.org/fhc
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
another in the Reference Shelf of the Files section in
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
and links to some others in
http://www.ferretcongress.org
if the others didn't give you enough options to get you started
Last week I wound up in many back and forth posts with someone there who
needed to provide vet care but was not doing so; sadly, there are always
some people like that anywhere -- either trying to skip vet care, afraid
of medical professionals, impoverished, or sometimes (and this is the one
that bugs me) belonging to the rare subset that is just trying to get
attention by saying things. On the various health lists and general
ferret lists we encounter each too often. I have no idea what the
situation is with the poster. Maybe someone even made up a story to get
that person's attention.
It IS dangerous to give meds without prior vet assessment and approval,
and certainly we have all read of too many who died as a result of being
given human meds, both prescription and over the counter ones.
Also, remember that controlling a symptom differs greatly from
controlling the disease. In relation to melatonin at least the
mechanism for fur re-growth is different from the one for better
controlling the triggers for adrenal growth and its complications.
This links to info about a fur and wool industry study:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/browse.php?msg=SG16864
How long have we had ferrets: something along the line of 25 years, I
think, working from the state permits.
We first got a ferret because Steve thought that i wanted one and I
thought that he wanted one, so we each insisted for the sake of the
other from a stand-point of love and then we found that we loved the
ferrets, too. (In fact, for our 25th wedding anniversary we got a silver
mitt to share and love and had a Chinese meal because our reception was
at a friend's Chinese restaurant. We're pretty romantic.)
Our ferrets usually like the wrapping as much as their gifts because we
got for things like tissue paper that they love to play with. We are
FAMILY.
I have no idea how many hours we spend, because there is all that loving
stuff on and off all the time, too.
I joined the FML because it was being created. First there was just
rec.pets and there were very few places on the internet: a few labs, a
few schools, parts of the military, and that was almost it. Then a few
folks had home computers that were on; ours was 22 years ago but we were
on through a lab before then for a couple of years, and Steve was on
through another lab in '76 (in fact he and a friend were the ones who
wrote the gateway that connected Theorynet to CSNET which was already
connected to ARPANET, and you had to write the path, not just the address
back then. Back to ferret lists: As numbers grew the lists became more
specialized. When we began being harassed Chris Lewis began the FML and
ran it for something like 5 years after which Bill Gruber became the
moderator for all the time since. I guess I have been around ferrets
and have read internet posts for longer than some FML people have been
alive, which feels pretty weird. Even worse than bickering I dislike
flame baiting when people get on with stories TRYING to create trouble
for all. Some people actually consider that to be sport and make up
stories to do it.
[See later for more background about the following paragraph. BIG]
Poor Hubble is still shaky and clingy, and Hilbert is guarding me. The
girls are calmer. Fires and smoke are no fun. Compared to one of our
elderly downstairs neighbors they are calm, though, but that it easy to
do. Thank goodness we didn't burn down (burn up?) like a nearby building
did a couple of months ago (fireplace chimney for that one). Too much
smoke too many times (3 now) since the year began...
-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my
private posts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love
them:
Ferret Health List
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth
FHL Archives
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
AFIP Ferret Pathology
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
Miamiferrets
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
International Ferret Congress Critical References
http://www.ferretcongress.org
[Posted in FML issue 5220]
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