Chris,
Thought you might want to put this in the next newsletter. Thanks!
Jeff
 
The following is an article that appeared in the April 21, 1994 edition of the
Gainesville Sun. Reprinted and uploaded with permission of the Gainesville Sun.
 
HEADLINE: Ferret will keep on ticking
SUBHEAD: Critter gets pacemaker
STORY BY: David Greenberg
 
     The surgical team spent nearly three hours hovering over the tiny, delicate
patient, working with all the patience and care given any risky surgery.
     And when the successful operation was over, the team, composed of three
veterinarians, a physician, a technician and a representative from a
medical-supply company, thought about what it had done.
     For the first time ever, a pacemaker was installed in a ferret.
     Bary Newsom, the man who brought the ferret to Alachua County from his home
550 miles away in Gibsonville, N.C., says the person responsible for Wednesday's
"miracle" is Dr. Deborah Kemmerer at West End Animal Hospital.
     Newsom, who runs an animal-rescue organization in North Carolina, has been
bringing ferrets in need of medical care to Kemmerer for four years.
     "She's a world-class veterinarian for small animals," Newsom said. "She's
the best in the U.S. for a ferret. It's amazing what you have right at your back
door here in Gainesville. We don't always win, but we always try."
     In this case, Kemmerer was trying to save the life of Poppy, a 10-year-old
female ferret. Normally, they live six or seven years.
     Ferret hearts normally beat about 250 times a minute, but Poppy's was down
to about 50 beats.
     "We decided that her only chance was a pacemaker," Kemmerer said. "Her
heartbeat was so slow, she had no quality of life. She would take two steps and
fall over from exhaustion."
     While some veterinarians would suggest putting the animal to sleep in cases
like this, Kemmerer had other ideas. She assembled a team that included several
other local veterinarians and got help form the University of Florida Colleges
of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine and Intermedics, the company that
manufacutred the pacemaker.
     Dr. Isiz Sanchez, and independent veterinary surgeon, performed the
surgery. Kemmerer served as anesthesiologist. Dr. Dan Knauf, a pediatric
thoracic surgeon at Shands Hopital, was the surgical adviser. Mike Peterson, the
representative from Intermedics, adjusted the pacemaker. Dr. Richard Goldman of
the Millhopper Veterinary Medical Center operated ultrasound equipment. And Fred
Congdon, a thoracic-surgery technician from Shands, assisted. The pacemaker,
which had been in a human, was donated by the vet school.
     Kemmerer estimates that the surgery will cost about $500, and Newsom saved
another $1,500 because the pacemaker was donated.
     "This was a group effort," she said. "Two thousand pounds of people working
on a puond-and-a-half ferret that's only 10 inches long with a heart the size of
a grape."
     Newsom agrees. "If you could have seen the surgical team, you  would have
been amazed. They were working like it was the first human heart transplant."
     Kemmerer says the prognosis for Poppy is good.
     "She's resting comfortably now," Kemmerer said. "We'll gradually increase
the heartbeats fo about 150, and she'll lead a normal life."
     While Newsom was impressed with this operation, it's not the first time he
was amazed by Kemmerer. He says he's seen amazing medical successes by her
before, and that's why he continues to make trips here with his ferrets.
     The first trip was four years ago when Newsom brought a ferret named Nipper
to Kemmerer. The ferret had developed heartworm - usually a fatal disease for
the animal. Veterinarians at the University of North Carolina failed to remove
the heartworm.
     "Nipper and I came to Gainesville that summer after a woman in Georgia told
me about Dr. Kemmerer," he said. "She treated him with Heparin. It's usually
given to people with circulatory problems. I took Nipper home that summer. But
(Wednesday) she surpassed anything anyone thought was possible."
 
PHOTO CAPTION: "Gary Newsom feeds his 10-year-old ferret Poppy a drink only
hours after a pacemaker was implanted in the 1.5 pound animal. The first-ever
surgery was done at West End Animal Hospital on Wednesday."
 
[Posted in FML issue 0848]