Some of you may know that I attend a veterinary technology magnet high
school.  By graduation, each student in my class will be a certified vet
tech (CVT).  As one of the more ferret-aware students at the Academy, I'm
naturally concerned about the ferret education of vet techs in general and
my graduating class in particular.  The lab/classroom is a very good one,
and includes many reference books, as well as grooming stations, a mock
clinic with real medical supplies & a dog dummy, and very nice clinic-level
cages so we can groom pets.  Unfortunately, there are absolutely NO books
or charts about ferrets.  There is only a very short section about handling
these critters.  As most of our class plans to go on to become
veterinarians, this leaves me more than a little worried.
 
Hence, I have decided to cut time out of my fiction-writing &
internet-surfing time to work on a handbook for the vet tech (though it
should be good for the inexpirence vet & lay-person).  The working title is
"Domesticated Ferrets: A Handbook for the Veterinary Technician".  The plan
is this: It will be spiral-bound and have at least a waterproof cover,
though perhaps some publishing company could make all the pages waterproof.
Each section will be color-coded in the table of contents, which will
correspond with tabs that stick out for easy reference.
 
The plan so far includes:
What is a Ferret?  (includes domestication info, ferret colors, basic
anatomy, how to distinguish a fert from its wild cousins)
 
Basic Ferret Care (so the tech can assist new owners and have some solid
advice to offer.  Includes things like nutrition & grooming, plus a section
entitled How to Tell if a Ferret has Been Neglected or Abused)
 
Medical Care (this will be extensive, covering things like handling and
taking blood samples (tech's job), how to ID & treat (vet's job, but a good
tech is converse in treatments & may assist in surgury) common diseases,
internal anatomy, skeletel system, muscular system, etc.)
 
References (clubs, resources, knowlegeable vets)
 
Appendix I: Information to Distribute to the Ferret Owner (includes things
that can be copied & distributed, such as the sheets Modern Ferret has on
their page (Can I include those in the book?  Please?)
 
Appendix II: Bibliograpy
 
Currently, I am looking for medical advice from ferret-knowedgable vets,
photo permission from ferret folk (does someone have a mink photo?  How
about a BFF one?), and suggestions about what to add to make this better.
What do you folks want out of your vet care?  Anything else you think I
should include, or am I doing OK?  Thank you for your help and your time.
 
-Ret
[Posted in FML issue 2890]