Harley "Bug" wrote.....
 
>Auntie Olympia took mommie with her to Guelph for Ken's check up.  i'm
>not so sure that was a good idea.  mommie is not fond of this years
>intern and blurted out how she thought he was close minded when he told
>mommie that ferret owners shouldn't be diagnosing their own ferrets with
>adrenal disease - they should leave that up to him.
>
>mommie doesn't agree with that and she blatantly told him that (poor
>intern).  mommie believes that good ferret owners can tell the first
>signs of disease and that vets SHOULD listen to ferret owners.  Next
>year's intern was present and she said she totally agreed with mommie.
>my mommie just smiled and told her that they would get along just fine
>next term :) i think auntie Olympia was relieved when mommie got off
>her soapbox :)
 
About a year before he left so suddenly... I had to take Bubbles to the
vet, hair loss and all the classic signs... but the vet (a locum) well he
wasnt at all convinced... we got to the point where I was getting rather
annoyed and considering asking to see the senior partner... he got a
reference book which didnt indicate adrenal problems... at which point
I told him that I read the FML every day and almost daily I see the
symptoms of adrenal talked about and here was a ferret displaying classic
signs, and while I agreed that it may not be the case, he was wrong to
dismiss it out of hand, and his disputing the symptoms seemed to indicate
out of date or incomplete knowledge.
 
He finally went and got another book and once he read that.... he
realised that I said was right... his attitude changed and to make a
long story short... he went on (with the help of a look at Dr Williams
site) to perform the surgery my big ol Warweezil needed discovering a
1 cm tumour on his right adrenal.  Bubbles came through ok and made an
almost complete recovery from it (all apart from having a bald tip on
this tail), despite the rocky start with that vet, I believe that if he
had still been at the practice last December..  I think Bubbles would
still be with me.
 
If it sounds like I am being harsh on this vet I should fill in the
facts that once we had the diagnosis agreed he said he hadnt done this
before and offered me referral anywhere I wanted... but when I asked
him if he felt he could do it ok he said he did and admitted he was
keen to gain the experience so I went ahead with the surgery there
rather than referring elsewhere.
 
Part of the training of any vet should be to teach them to listen
carefully to owners, especially if it is a shelter operator or foster
carer especially where something a little more specialised like ferrets
are involved, maybe its a form of professional arrogance that some seem
to believe that there is nothing that owners can tell them, and if that
is true..  they are very wrong.
 
One of the characteristics of a geet vet siurely is the capacity to
listen to the owners and to be open to the opinions offered?
 
My thoughts to those with sick, lost or angelled heart thieves
  Cris Page &
  Skweek   (Spookydook)
  Rhoobarb (Biteyweezil)
 
And remembering Custard (Cussie(angel)weezil) & Bubbles (da Warweezil)
leader of the Furkidz..  First ferret par excellance
 
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[Posted in FML issue 4481]