>loosing my [ferret name] to advanced adrenal and now this.
 
Adrenal disease almost never needs to be a cause of death.  There are
myriad sources of info on surgical approaches, and medical info for when
a ferret is not a surgical candidate for health reasons Age is typically
not a factor that precludes surgery since even 8 year olds who haven't
had medical reasons to not undergo surgery have coped fine with surgical
correction.  At times there are weird complications and choices have to be
made but those are rare.  Did I miss something in relation to a further
health problem like cardiomyopathy, or very advanced age like 9 years old
or over, or incapable veterinary personnel locally who could use the
teaching tapes of Charles Weiss and Deborah Kemmerer (
http://members.atlantic.net/~weah/ferrets.html ,
http://www.bradleyhills.com/ ,  and
http://www.ferretdoctor.com. ), texts such as those by Dr Karen Purcell
(AAHA 1-800-252-2242), Doctros Quesenberry and Hillyer (new edition due
out later this year, I believe -- Saunders http://www.wbsaunders.com),
and Dr. Fox (Williams and Wilkins - no handy ordering data here).
 
In addition, there are a huge number of excellent vet and expert written
pieces of info on assorted websites that I have provided about every 3
to 4 weeks for a number of months now, so easily enough found in the FML
archives.  and at least some of them can be found in the Files section at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list .
 
>Having been scammed by "shelters" throughout the years, I am quite
>skeptical and feel the RIGHT to ask.  Perhaps people here on the FML may
>have been scammed by a shelter.  Maybe even one or two who posted here
>regularly and gained their trust.
 
Sorry to read this; it's why the SOS list provides the contact info for
the treating VETS of the shelters: further protection for donors and great
reason to go through the SOS.  Yes, there at times have been scams, not
only from shelters but I clearly recall one from a breeder because we lost
money to that one.  Although it takes a while to update the list there IS
a federal list of 501 (C) charities (if i recall the designation right) --
i.e. charities which donors can then deduct on their tax forms.  That is
a further way, beyond giving to the vet hospitals instead of the shelters,
that people can protect themselves.  I have to admit that having been
scammed once I do check before giving.  That doesn't stop giving, it just
means that we know that our money isn't being misused.  *****Since i don't
have the government website for the federal list of such charities,
anymore, could someone, please, post that?*****
 
>normal, but he said he heard "something".  He didn't say a murmur, or
>what.  I'm worried about atrial/ventricular gallop or other type of
>cardiomyopathy.
 
There is cardiomyopathy info at http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc .
We have had one, Meltdown, with ventricular bigemini and sometimes
ventricular trigemini and she was expected to die within days; tried all
sort of things.  Even tried Enacard before anyone else had tried it on
ferrets since it was either just released or still experimental.  Our
vet had learned of it by contacting a research cardiologist and we had
to work through the researchers at the pharmalogical company at first.
Then we tried Digoxin.  It controlled her rhythm problem well enough that
she lived something like a year to a year and a half more.  With those
symptoms you describe: lethargy and excessive salivation I would also
have vet check for insulinoma, and for gastric disease or blockage.
[Posted in FML issue 3695]