Coughing is one of those things which MUST be checked by a vet.  It can
indicate cardiomyopathy, an infection, ascites from a cause other than
cardiomyopathy, or other things which must be either ruled out or treated.
 
Betty, you are right on target.  Too many people do NOT know where their
money goes and until they learn that and keep track they can't possibly
save for ferret medical care.  The way to start is with a budget book which
does not have goals at the beginning, but just keeps track of categories
of spending for the first year, then to have goals thereafter.  We have a
three ring notebook which has two pages each week.  Receipts attach to the
top of the page which has our lists of categories and what we spent.  The
second (facing page) has the subtotals for those categories, our
expenditure totals, running cumulative totals, savings, savings rates,
goals etc.  One example of how unfamiliar people usually are with where
there money goes is seen in responses to gasoline prices.  Now, we
personally don't like big gas hogs for pollution reasons and safety reasons
so we have a good mileage exceedingly safe sports car (TT Quatro - one car
only here) which we saved for over many years beforehand, but look at how
people treat the difference between $1.75 per gallon compared to $2.00 per
gallon and then figure out how much that difference is per year total.
Now, look at how much is lost to money spent on car loan interest which
could have been avoided with some saving up-front.  Hmmmm... Also, look at
how much people figure they save going with lousy grades of oil or changing
oil too infrequently and compare that to the increase in repair expenses
resulting from that strategy.  Just like the ferret owner you are trying to
educate, Betty, anyone who does NOT know WHERE the money is going will NOT
know HOW to save.
 
Oh, and the pattern you have seen -- where a person spends like crazy then
hits others up for money for essentials is common and one we cope with in
two members of the family on each side.  They couldn't very well hit-up
people for money to have a far larger home than anyone else, or six phone
lines, or loads of cable options, or a new saddle, so they spend the money
there and then AFTERWARD they cry poor because they "can't afford" life
insurance or the kid's educational needs.  We have limits on such people
though we would never cheat the kids and had to cover some educational
needs twice when the parents spent the college money we'd sent for two on
vacations), but once such adults get firmly in that pattern we sure have
never found a way to put any sense of responsibility into them; what is
their's is their's and what is others' should be their's as far as they are
concerned.  ***What they sorely needed were some years in their late teems
and early twenties where they HAD to live modestly (somewhat hand-to-mouth
even if it meant random food donations without money donations) and learn
responsibility, but instead they always knew they could call home and live
exceedingly well on the results.*** It's such a shame when that hurts the
children and the ferrets.  It is a reoccurring topic here on the FML,
though.  Not one of those every six months things, but certainly one which
comes up repeatedly.  (BTW, this is NOT saying that those who need to learn
to budget and WANT to learn can't do so, because such people can and do
learn the skill all the time: I know some of them (and they know my budget
book :-).) The people who like to take from others are a different category
completely from responsible people who just need to learn.  Economic
parasites willingly use people and then don't miss them once the money is
gone and those monetary-microbes just don't change.  (Sorry about being so
blunt; it's borne of decades of knowing the other side and seeing some
people badly hurt by these individuals.  Since this is her established
pattern do NOT expect to change her; she has cared only about people's
money instead of the people in the past, remember.)
 
Meeteetse tests out as having moderate insulinoma, but there was something
else (a splenic margin problem) noted today which leads to a need for an
ultrasound to know what is going on and if surgery should be risked.  If
she needs her spleen out then the insulinomae will be popped out at the
same time if possible.  Never wild about having a ferret pushing 8 get
operated on and in her case would not do so for a slow-growing insulinoma,
but if there also is a contained splenic tumor that changes the situation.
Today she is also having kidney and liver panels as well as CBC and the
fasting glucose tolerance that has been completed.
 
Ashling will wait a month or two for her adrenal surgery unless there is a
change which alters that wait (like a cancerous smell starting, or symptoms
being extreme suddenly, or...).  The wait is to let the tumor get large
enough for easy spotting.  She's a PV and is our first early adrenal (She
is 3 years and 4 months) in about 18 years.
 
Tried Warp without supplementary A/D and she eats well but doesn't hold her
weight well enough.  Given her small intestinal damage that is not a major
surprise.  She'll get some "liver soup" daily along with normal eating.
That's all.
[Posted in FML issue 3088]