Miska the #1 Ferret is 6 years old today.  Our smart, beautiful girl should
not be here.  When she was 2 we adoped her - our first ferret, her 6th
*home* - and a short time later she was diagnosed with insulinoma.  I
cried, wondering if we would have even a year with her.  Now it's 4 1/4
years later, 2 partial pancreatectomies (quite different than simple tumor
removal for those of you just learning about insulinoma), and finally a
small daily dose of pediapred, and Miska is still strong and playful and
very determined.  She has an adrenal tumor, and not being a surgical
candidate, had a 4-month shot of lupron, so her coat is back and she feels
even better.  This birthday morning she ate breakfast cereal (TF in warmed,
purified water), Gabby Goo (a very simple duck soup), treats (Authority Cat
Kibble) and scurrying off to chase Paddington.  She caught him too,
although she's blind, and they wrestled.
 
And Paddington.  Pads the Man.  He has insulinoma too, and during a recent
surgery, a diseased liver lobe was found, and the entire lobe (ferrets have
6!) removed.  It was an unexpected and delicate surgery, involving the vena
cava.  Within moments of waking up, Pads was trying to get out of his
hospital cage, alert, color good.  Pads is not on medicine though he's had
insulinoma for more than a year; his BG averages 100.  It's been a couple
months since the liver surgery and he's acting like a kit - fluffy thick
coat, loves to gallop up and down the stairs in our new house, harassing
David toes, wrestling with his Miska and Gabby the Googer.  Thank you for
him, too, Dr. Weiss.  (And to Carol & Jim Scott for allowing us the
privilege of adopting Pads.  Tiki.)
 
Speaking of Gabby, she is also about 6.  She almost died.  She was 1 pound
when she came to us, and could not be vetted since she was too fragile and
terrified.  I brought her to Dr. Weiss' office and he ordered me to give
her tiny amounts of duck soup every 3 hours, 24 hours a day, and to get her
out of the hospital before she caught something or the stress did her in.
I consulted with him by phone about a dozen times while she was getting
fat.  Through those calls, he guessed she had a partial blockage, although
her stools were normal and she was gaining weight extremely fast.  When she
could tolerate a car ride (we used to sit in the car and go nowhere), we
returned.  She had a hairball that took up 2/3 of her stomach.  That was
removed and during the surgery insulinoma was discovered.  1/3 of her
pancreas and the tumor were removed.  It's been 1 1/2 years and the Googer
is fat and giggly and not afraid of anything - she tries to jump on the
large dogs at the vet office when we visit for her 6-week BG checks.  And
she's on no meds.
 
So what's the point besides our gratitude?  It's bucks.  What are we paying
for when we put out the dollars for a surgery?  The 30 minutes of cutting
and stitching time?  Or a little more?  Like the phone consults, the years
of schooling, the expertise, the compassion, the striving to move ferret
medicine forward?
 
So let me tell you about our ferrets' vet.  Dr. Weiss spends about 60 hours
a week at the hospital.  He works at home another 2-4 hours a night on his
ferret studies (he has 3 right now), usually from about 12:00 - 3:00 a.m.
Recently he has been spending about 1 1/2 hours a day returning calls to
vets who want to know about his adrenal medicine studies (lupron and two
others) for ferrets who aren't viable surgical candidates.  He doesn't own
the animal hospital; another vet does, and Dr. Weiss does all surgeries at
the hospital on all animals.  He sees clients every day, and gives his home
number to clients.  Part of the reason he's conducting studies is to
publish.  Why?  In order to get other vets and vet schools to move forward
in their practice of ferret medicine.  (Some schools notoriously lag far
behind; I know of one that doesn't use isoflurine as anesthesia yet.) His
prices are fair, lower than many vets, and he has given breaks to shelters
and allowed them to bring in *extra* ferrets during appointments for
others.  His experience is enormous, and he could make a lot more money
doing dog and cat surgeries.  Come to think of it, if he didn't work on
adrenal medicine studies, he could make more money - by doing more
surgeries.  He has spent large amounts of his own money on studies -
there's not a lot of funding for ferret medicine.
 
I've been talking about our vet, but when any excellent ferret surgeon does
an adrenal or insulinoma surgery, or removes a blockage, he or she is also
carefully checking other organs.  The surgeon is moving quickly, since for
ferrets, the less time under anesthesia, the better.  Often a pancreatic
tumor is found during the adrenal surgery, or vice versa.  Just because
many adrenal sugeries are done, doesn't mean they're a cake walk.  They're
delicate, serious surgeries, complications can develop and of course, there
are various categories of adrenalectomies - left, right or bilateral - not
to mention other diseases that can be spotted when *inside.*  Years of
school and expertise and commitment to constant improvement go into the
equation.  Frankly, when I think about the toddler that Dr. Weiss has to
pick up every day at 6:00 p.m., his newborn baby son, wife, dog, schedule,
prices - and incredible dedication to improving ferret medicine for all
ferrets, I think we have it pretty darn good in Maryland.
 
So thank you for our birthday girl, Dr. Weiss.  And for the birthday's of
Paddington and Gabby the Googer (dates unknown) and for the health and your
commitment to all of our animals, now in in the future.  Thank you to Dr.
Kawasaki, who did Miska's very first surgery.  And thank you to the rest of
the veterinarians *out there* - I mean the ones who listen, and explain,
and respect owner knowledge, and strive to learn more, and are
partner-caretakers of our beloved animals.  [singing last line] Happy
birthday, dear Miska, happy birthday to you.
 
Beth, Miska the #1 Ferret, Pads the Man, Gabby the Googer and David
 
It's Be Kind to Ferrets Decade - Let them play & exercise out of the cage
at least 3 hours a day for health & happiness.  Split it up a.m. (while
you get ready for work) & p.m. for double fun.
[Posted in FML issue 2695]