I wholeheartedly agree with the suggestion to nominate Dr. Weiss as the FML
Man of the Year.  Some people may remember that I asked for vet recommends
a month or so ago because I was unhappy with my current vet.  After getting
an overwhelming amount of emails suggesting Dr. Weiss, I took my two oldest
girls to see him last Saturday.  One of the ferrets I brought in (Saffy)
has insulinoma.  She had had tumor removal surgery in July of 98 and her
symptoms were returning.  She was maxed out on Prednisone and was taking
Proglycem as well.  Her quality of life was deteriorating and frankly I
was expecting to get "the talk" the next time I took her to see a vet.
Dr. Weiss was wonderful beyond words with her and her sister Gatsby.  He
suggested surgery for Saffy's insulinoma (Saffy had a BG of 57 when Dr.
Weiss examined her) and told me he suspected an adrenal problem as well.
He took the time to explain what he would be doing in the surgery, and he
explained about the cryosurgery technique for the adrenal gland.  And for
all the technical expertise he was bringing to the table, he charged less
than half of what the July 98 surgery cost.  Saffy had her surgery
yesterday and (knock wood) is doing well.  I don't know what I would have
done had I not gone to see Dr. Weiss.  I can't even express how grateful I
am to him for helping Saffy.  If anyone deserves any kind of accolades for
anything ferret-related, it is Dr. Weiss.  I'm sure noe of this suprises
any of his clients, but I thought I would add my appreciation of Dr. Weiss
to the growing pile of acclaim.  Perhaps it may be hard for people who
don't take their ferrets to Dr. Weiss to understand why everyone speaks so
highly of him, but trust me, everything you've heard is true and then some.
If there is any way I can help this vet get any commendation for all his
hard work, I'll be right there to work on it.
 
Since I was a few issues behind on my FML, I didn't know about the surgery
video until Dr. Weiss told me himself yesterday.  He explained to me that
vets had been flying out to witness him performing surgeries firsthand to
learn the techniques but that he felt that it wasn't fair to the ferret
being operated on to try to talk to visitors while he was working.  If
you think about it, transportation and lodging to come and watch a surgery
will cost more than $200.  Personally, I'd worry if the tape was too
inexpensive.  I don't want the cast of "The Blair Witch Project" recording
life saving surgical techniques. ;-)
 
Laura Ellis
[Posted in FML issue 2848]