Hi Eden and all the rest of you FML'ers.
 
This is a 2 part message.  The first part was intended for today's mail but
due to an error on my account it allways bounced back.The second part is
some sad news about my insulinomic ferret.
 
Part1
Eden, you wrote:
>Are ferrets popular in Belgium?  I never saw any walking down the street
>on my brief visit to Bruges, but then you don't often see them walking
>down the street in Seattle either ;->
 
You could say that ferrets are definitely growing in popularity here in =
Belgium.  Here in our home, my wife and I have been owned by ferrets for
14+ years.  The real "hype" around ferrets in Belgium began about 2 or 3
years ago when a first ferretclub started with some remarked press
appearance.  For the moment there are 3 ferretclubs known to us, all
varying in grade of development and given services.  On the "pure figures
side" I'd say at least 700 to 800 ferrets here in Belgium, probably much
much more.  The only problem surrounding ferrets overhere is the lack of
real GOOD and RELIABLE ferretinfo!  Every club tries his best to pass on
some information about the "proper" way to keep a ferret but none of them
gets past the level of "how to clip their nails" and "how to clean their
ears".  A real pity!
 
On the "books side", there's one Dutch book available, quite good but
really vague on the medical side.  On the "vets' side" there's still a
whole lot of work to be done.  A lot of ferrets still die because of the
lack of medical knowledge on behalf of our little furry friends.
 
For a real ferretlover Belgium is really the wrong country to be born in.
No real ferretproducts, no books, definitely no magazines, etc...
Everything needs to be imported thus costly!
 
As a remedy, the only solution is to get a subscription to one (or more)
of your various superb American ferretmagazines.  We have a supscription
to Modern Ferret since a few months (Way to go Mary and Eric!  Even the
appearance of Tiffany didn't pose any problem to me.  Are we Europeans
less puritan than you Americans?....Yiiiihaa, bring out the flamethrowers!!
 ;->) and a supscription to Ferrets USA on the way.  The only negative
point is that it's rather costly to get the magazines to Belgium. (nudge,
nudge, wink, wink) Anyway, money spend on our ferrets is money well spend.
 
On the "personal medical ferretknowledge side", I recently bought the Fox'
Ferrets book (second edition) and the Hillyer/Quesenberry Ferrets,
Rabbits and Rodents book.  I'm reading the books cover to cover (with an
encyclopedia on the side) and getting wiser day after day.(much to my
regular vets despair, all my questions!) My whole library consists out of
+20 ferretbooks (Dutch,German,English) and a whole lot of printouts from
the Net.
 
To come back at my question about cyproheptadine and insulinoma, from a few
days ago.  Until now I received one (=1) personal email reaction containing
a remark if I had read the FAQ already (yes I do RTFM!) and today Eden's
public reaction on the FML.  Have all the knowledgeable people suddenly
gone offline or is my question so extra-ordinary and difficult to answer?
I simply wanted to use the drug to force my weakened ferret to more
meals/day.  I really need something on paper to convince my vet, people!
 
Part2
Today, about two hours ago, we had to help our oldest ferret Gizmo cross
the Rainbow Bridge.  When my wife got home from work she found Gizmo
hanging half out of his hammock almost not reacting at all and completely
limb, barely breathing.  We decided that it was more than time to let him
go.  We phoned our vet and even though she wasn't on duty today she was
immediately prepared to help us.  She didn't even charge us for the
unpleasant job she had to do for us.  While I sit here trying to finish
this mail with tears in my eyes, I catch myself thinking that everytime one
of the other ferrets comes from behind the bookcase it's him I see.  The
house seems a little emptier now...
 
Give your ferrets an extra hug today, you never know what tomorrow will
bring.
 
Stef, Tania and our two remaining monsters Odo and Neelix.
 
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[Posted in FML issue 2691]