If a ferret has had a pronounced reaction to one past CD vaccine then we
try a different vaccine.  There os only one USDA acepted rabies vaccine
so when one has had a marked reaction we skip that vaccination.  If a
ferret has had a reaction to two separate types of vaccines we either
stop vaccinating, or go to a different vaccine and do the vaccinations
less often.
 
With certain disease or when certain meds are ebing taken vaccinations are
stopped during that time.
 
Note that non-vaccinated individuals don't take walks outside and don't
have interactions with folks who don't understand and may pose a danger.
 
Otherwise, vaccinations as handled in the normal ways.
 
  -------
 
>I really don't understand why a veterinarian would allow one or two
>individuals to run them off the list.  Would the veterinarian quit his or
>her practice if/when a client is unhappy and phones or writes a letter of
>complaint?  Of course not!  So why quit when it happens elsewhere?
 
There are also some who just never let folks know that they are vets for
self-protection.  When people know that someone is a vet then many
requests for donations of advice and time arrive for the vet.  These can
get out-of-hand, and when combined with insults can become too much to
cope with.  I'm not a vet, and am not speaking about any single vet's
experience, but have heard similar stories about these two points from
multiple vets through the years in relation to a few general animal lists.
 
Vets have very expensive educations and then must fund entire hospitals
(unlike physicians for humans).  In addition, they have the costs of other
businesses: land rental or purchase, taxes, employee costs, etc.  It is
not an inexpensive job choice.  (Yes, I understand that vet bills can be
hard.  Our guys cost us around $11,500 last year with most of that in vet
costs (5 or 6 operations, about 5 ultrasounds, Lupron for two, etc.) and
that was enough that it used all that we have budgeted for the ferrets,
the money we'd saved to replace old flooring (which didn't get done), and
our vacation money (no vacation last year).  Still, those things happen --
love comes with its costs and some of those can be financial.)
 
At 8:00 AM -0500 1/31/02, Automatic digest processor wrote:
>While I understand that there most certainly are two sides to every story,
>Angie in Kansas has every right to ask for documentation of the charges
>incurred during the care of her late-ferret, Luna.
 
Yes, and as you pointed out -- there are two sides -- so the vet is not
required to give out test results that were not paid for.  The only way to
know if the fault was the vet's is to go from what the veterinary review
committee decides.  For all that any of know, long-distance, the ferret
may have been in great danger and the vet may have pulled out all stops
trying to save it.  One reason I have to wonder about this is because the
vet near the end did an intraosseous (in the bone) IV and those are used
when the standard ones fail due to collapsing veins or other problems.  It
sounds like that might possibly be the action of a person trying as hard
as possible to find a way to save an individual ferret against the odds.
 
If consulting vets think that there was malpractise then the first step
would be the review board and the second would be legal action by a lawyer
interested in consumer law, or perhaps a practise case by law students
with that interest.  A lot of the particulars will vary considerably among
the states depending on the laws and rules and regs of those individual
states.
[Posted in FML issue 3680]