Amazing, isn't it?
 
Here's a note from Steve and then I'll say something:
 
Hi - (Sukie does most of the FML from the family) I remember having a
discussion with Chris Lewis about 10 years ago about one thing or another
(probably in netnews) and it became clear that both of us had ferrets and
thought it would be reasonable to talk about them.  He was proposing a
mailing list to enhance the signal to noise ratio over what we were seeing
on netnews at the time and we signed up as charter members.  Sukie wasn't
using the Internet at that point and I would print out FMLs for her and let
her use my account for responding.  That didn't last very long as it was
clear that she was going to be a major contributor.  The rest is history ...
 
Sukie:  Yep, I just read it, and typed things for Steve to send at first.
 
Did you know that Steve has often used the FML in his talks as an example of
an internet community which works?  That's because we might have arguments
now and then but for the most part we pull in the same direction, and
because the FML has made such a HUGE difference to the lives of ferrets.
Just from reading the posts of people it's obvious that there is still too
much misinformation out there in publications and among many vets, media,
human health community, etc.  It's NOWHERE near the level that existed 10
years ago, though, largely due to the FML and some other resources which
arose DUE TO THE FML including _Modern Ferret_ and Pam Green's FAQs, Medical
FAQs, and Natural History FAQs.  We all have a large debt to Chris for
beginning the FML and getting it through those hard early years, and to Bill
Gruber who first was the Protector of Those Who Needed to Post in Anonymous
Form, and later became the Moderator of so many thousands of us.
 
I think the biggest change over the 10 years has been in ferret medical
care, and the FML accelerated the care our furries received at a rate which
would not have been possible without it.  That's not just my opinion; I've
heard exactly that said by a number of top exotic research vets, some of the
U.S.'s best veterinary surgeons, pharmaceutical engineers, veterinary
funding experts, the world's best ferret pathologist, the people who worked
on first getting a rabies vaccine for ferrets and many, many more.  It's
fact, folks -- the FML may be the greatest force existing for saving
ferrets' lives.  Amazing to belong to such a forum, isn't it?  About ten
years ago vet Mark Burgess did a paper on ALL that was known of ferret
medical care for publication -- gestation through to death -- and it fit in
something like fifteen pages.  We have a copy put away in a drawer.
 
Back then medical problems we now take for granted and treat easily were
common causes of death.  No one knew about helicobacter or how to treat or
operate for splenalomegaly.  Ferrets used to die of ruptured spleens
regularly.  People didn't know about adrenals -- heck, even when folks did
start knowing about adrenals the problem was thought to be Cushings.
Insulinoma was thought to be untreatable.  There were no chemo treatments,
yet, though one had just been tried -- but too far along, and the problem
was juvenile lympho not regular lympho (know because it was Helix).  Keeping
ferrets alive was a very real problem, except for those whose genetics were
right for long lives.  You'd blanch if you knew how very many ferrets died
in surgery; now there are people like our vet who have not lost even one.
People didn't know how to use anesthesia properly then.  You name it (except
for ECE which arose later -- and which led to numerous FML alerts and
precautions taken that saved MANY ferrets) -- we didn't know what the heck
to do for it.  Then people here began searching for excellent research vets
and posting what worked and who was good, and readers began copying the
information for their own vets.  We all learned about megaesophagus,
cardiomyopathy, chemo and much, much more, and vets began to join the FML.
When Bruce Williams had the time to be here his posts made the FML THE place
where reading vets could learn faster than anywhere else about changes in
diagnoses and working treatments, and about proportions of diseases.  The
FML began to be monitored by amazingly wonderful people at many of the
nation's best veterinary locations.  Nowadays, ferret veterinary care has
tackled the easier questions already which slows down the pace of learning,
and ferrets are established in the pet community which means that veterinary
journals carry ferret articles.  But today is a world away from only a
decade ago in medical opportunity.
 
Wendy Winstead was still around then as I recall.  She was the individual
who almost single-handedly popularized ferrets in the U.S.  In fact, Steve
and I had one of her ferrets, Fritter, who looked just like WW's McGuinn.
She also introduced Dick Smothers, David Carradine and many more high
profile individuals to ferrets; you see, she was a successful song writer as
well as a physician.  Sadly, Wendy Winstead passed away far too young of
cancer.
 
Now we talk about NYC, California, Hawaii and a few other places which don't
allow ferrets, but then the list was enormous.  The nation was a
checkerboard.
 
It's been a great ten years for ferrets.  Let's make the next ten even
better!
 
Sukie
[Posted in FML issue 2163]