First, please excuse my spelling; my spell checker doesn't check subject
lines.
 
BIG wrote:
>[Moderator's note: Interesting coincidence!  Many of these very topics
>were discussed today at the symposium.  An executive summary: Isoflurane
>anesthesia is incredibly safe in ferrets; dental procedures are probably
>overdone in ferrets; it IS possible to draw blood without sedation. BIG]
 
Thank you so much for your comments.  It is reassuring that someone
somewhere IS considering such things.
 
Unfortunately, just as with many MDs, they still think in tightly defined
boxes.  It has been my experience that vets (like doctors) are either
staunch conformists, with no imagination at all, or crack pots who are
way off in left field (too much imagination?).  Vets, like doctors,
are all too often not willing to take outside advice or input.  They
automatically assume that, unless someone else is a professional in the
field like they are, that they don't know squat.  But, this is not
necessarily true.
 
Before I went to my first chiropractor, I always thought the discipline
was rather crackpot.  That stereotype was perpetrated by other doctors
and the medical field in general.  But, after I went to a chiropractor
myself, and noticed definite, immediate improvement and help for
something that kept me off my feet for a full week, I became a believer;
there IS something to it.  So, every doctor who spoke disparagingly about
chiropractors, was WRONG.
 
It sounds like such symposiums are a good thing, and those willing to
attend them are striving to better their knowledge.  It would be
interesting to know which vets attend them and how often.  A vet who
thinks they know it all, and never attends any, should not be trusted.
 
I will remember the Isoflurane thing, and will insist on it should *my*
ferrets ever need anesthesia.  How many thousands of ferrets would have
lived had they used that instead of what they did use?
 
It seems to me that, when something like that is proven safer than all
other things, there should be a way to spread that word to the entire vet
community.  Indeed, unless there are specific, valid reasons to not use
it, I think things like this should be mandated even.  Any vet who is
either too stubborn to consider it, or too out of touch to even know of
it, should not be trusted (especially if they have killed ferrets using
other methods).  Their practice needs to dry up and blow away.  There
needs to be certain standards set, based on the best, proven methods, and
if they won't voluntarily comply, they need to be forced to.  Just that
simple.
 
If *I* sound contentious against vets and doctors, there are reasons for
this.  Having experienced numerous cases of malpractice and just plain
incompetence from both fields, I have just cause for animosity and
distrust.  I can no longer muster the respect that others automatically
heap upon them; that they have come to automatically expect.  They must
now earn it.
 
People seem to forget that they work FOR *us* - *we* ARE the employers;
they are the employees.  If anything, they should strive to please *us*
and address our concerns; to respect us, not the other way around (within
reason, in a mutual sort of way).  All too many people are afraid to name
an incompetent vet, and black list them so they either get their act
together, or are put out of business
 
But, *I* am not afraid to say, NEVER take your pet to "South Branch Pet
and Bird Clinic" (in Austin, Texas) - they ARE totally incompetent!
(Take them to "Brodie Animal Hospital" instead [same city] - they are
EXCELLENT).  There needs to be a master list of proven incompetent vets,
so that people can research which ones are worth their salt and which
ones are not, so that the bad ones can be boycotted out of business.
 
Well, sorry for rambling on so, but I do have something to say about it.
I may not know all the factors involved, but it doesn't take a genius to
see that something is wrong.
 
*climbing off the soap box*
 
Gary, Bart and Victoria
 
P.S. How long has Isoflurane been around? How long have they known about
it?
 
[Moderator's note: I won't jump into the debate other than to say that
every patient is an individual -- what works for one may not work for
another -- so, personally, I feel you might be over-generalizing.
 
I think most vet practices have been using Iso. for years now, but please
don't take my word for it -- I am not a vet.  I do know for a fact that
some do not use it, or at least not for every procedure, but there are
often good reasons for that too -- it's a very complex issue and I'm not
the one to be asking.  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 4291]