>Personally I do not believe in surgery at his age, seeing what effects
>anesthia and the stress of surgery have on animals I will not put him
>through such a stressful ordeal in order to prolong his life for a couple
>of months.
 
Amber,
 
While there are many factors to consider in deciding whether or not to
operate, please don't rule it out just because of Mr. Fuzz's age.  Five
is certainly not too old to operate on an otherwise healthy ferret.
 
My Alfalfa, who is just turning six now, had surgery last October to remove
his enlarged spleen and a huge tumor attached to it.  Without the surgery,
my vet estimates he had only a month or so before the tumor would have
burst and killed him.  He came through the surgery just fine, and today,
almost eight months later, he's a happy, healthy guy; as playful as ever.
He's nowhere near "old" yet! :)
 
I also want to say that I can't agree with you more on the endless personal
squabbles and thoughtless criticisms on the fml lately.  I've been on
this list for about five years now, and, as valuable as it has been (and
continues to be), I've been very close to signing off the last few days.
This pointless nonsense starts up, it tapers off when people start
complaining, but then it just starts all over again for another round.
I've about had it.  I try to pass over the stuff I don't want to read,
but I can't help but get the gist of it, and it gets depressing.  I just
wish some of you people (you know who you are!) would stop for a moment
and think about how your posts affect other, innocent, well-intentioned
people on this list, and keep your personal disagreements private, and
nasty comments to yourselves.
 
Nancy and critters
[Posted in FML issue 3430]