Having lost our beloved Fuzz post-surgically to adrenal disease just last
year has made me terrified of the prospect of needing the same treatment
for our current carpet shark.  I firmly believe the veterinarian really
cared about the surgical outcome & did his very best to save our fuzzy,
but things sometimes DO go wrong.
 
Shortly after this painful experience, I read in this newsletter about the
benefits of cryosurgery as a better technique for this type of surgery &
some info was given on a veterinarian performing dozens of adrenalectomies
successfully using this procedure in New Mexico (Albuquerque, I think).
Can anyone supply more info?  In particular I would like the name of the
vet, as my veterinarian says he can use his professional contacts to
locate more information if I can supply him with the name of the doctor.
I believe he actually conducted a training seminar for other vets, & the
success rate for the ensuing surgeries in the session was 100%!
 
Also, info on any vet with MUCH experience in this procedure (cryo or not)
with a good track record would be appreciated.  I live in Arizona (Las
Vegas, Nevada is the closest city) but would be willing to travel a day
if there's some kind of "ferret super-vet" out there. ;>)
 
I'm hoping this info will never become necessary but would like to be
prepared.  I'm also posting since I feel it may be beneficial to lots of
other readers here.  Thank you all for your help.
 
Lisa
 
P.S.- Our new adoptee is deaf & we don't care, but I would like to
encourage everyone to pursue those petshop "refunds" of purchase price
(as long as it does NOT require returning your fuzzbutt to the store).
Deafness & many other defects (perhaps including predisposition to adrenal
disease) are genetic & preventable, but no one will bother to stop breeding
these problems into animals until it affects their pocketbooks.  If
cranking out 100 new ferrets for sale results in refunding the purchase
price of 1/2 of them, breeders will start to be more careful about good
health.  It will also help if in the future we all try to find a fuzzy to
love at a shelter instead of adding to the "demand" for those cute little
new baby fuzzies.  That's a tough one (I know), but there are enough
irresponsible "impulse" pet-buyers out there to keep almost any kind of
animal shelter full (sad but true), & ferrets are "in vogue" right now.
[Posted in FML issue 3472]