Ferret Rescue of the Western States sends sincere gratitude to Traci and
her brood for the surprise gift of badly-needed syringes and a lovely cash
donation.  How nice to find something unexpected in the mail when it's so
often just bills!  Your thoughtfulness helps more than I can tell you.
 
Greg and Georgia Williams and their large, furry family have made a donation
which today went to our vet for surgical services.  They said it "wasn't
much".  We saved two lives today and your donation was part of it.  I'd say
that was "very much"!
 
Dave and Anita Roe also remembered our shelter and we send our thanks to
them.  No donation is a small token.  Grouped with others and put toward
saving ferret lives, every dollar counts.
 
There have been several posts regarding the hazards of these unusually
warm days.  We had two ferrets brought in during the past week, dying from
deydration.  They were both so far gone no measures could save them.
Dehydration is insidious.  Ferrets that get too hot don't have the energy to
go drink.  It is important to make water easily available, such as in large
ceramic bowls which tempt ferrets to play in the water.  Rub cool water into
their fur.  Make sure they are eating, too.  Liquids can be given by syringe
and it doesn't hurt to add a little Nutrical for energy.
 
We did two adrenal surgeries today.  One was a ferret with REAR LEG PARTIAL
PARALYSIS.  Vet texts say this can often be a result of an adrenal tumor,
and this was the case.  We hope he will make a full recovery.
 
The second was a small stray female with an enlarged vulva.  Research says
90% of female adrenal tumor patients have a swollen vulva--often
misinterpreted as lack of spay or incomplete spay.  She had the MF tattoos
in her ear, so it was fairly certain she was spayed.  When we shaved her for
the adrenal surgery, which was indeed the case, we found a recent abdominal
surgical scar.  It appears a vet went in looking for an unspayed or
incompletely spayed female, and finding her already spayed, closed up
leaving the rather large tumor behind.  Having participated in hundreds of
ferret surgeries as a vet nurse and shelter operator, we know it's always
important to look at everything in the abdomen--not just the perceived
problem.  Both ferrets are sleeping soundly tonight and on the way to
better, longer lives.
 
There was a post regarding human glaucoma medication.  We have used this
successfully in ferrets.  Dosage is the same as for people; results are
comparable.
[Posted in FML issue 2379]