Great article Bob, thank you for taking time to do this.  I recently made
use of *the clipboard and records*.  My ferret had adrenal surgery, and
all went well.  I did become concerned about 5 days later, as he had
dropped an additional bit of weight.  I called my vet, and the first
questions were, *how much has he lost, eating well, poopies normal, what
is different, if anything*?  I had recorded each days weight, approximate
food/water intake, normal looking poops, activity level, (mostly
sleeping).  The day he started the 2nd little drop in weight was the day
after I allowed him out of the recovery cage to do a little exploring and
then snuggling with his cage buddies.  A little extra soup took care of
that.  Records are really helpful, to me and my vet.
 
Ardith
[Posted in FML issue 4403]