FILE AND KEEP THIS INFORMATION, PLEASE, so you won't be asking us all for
it in the next two weeks, or three months, or so.  I can not promise my
schedule isn't going to get worse so may not be able to resend it if that
happens.
 
Just a reminder:
 
if you have a vet or vets who don't know ferrets well remember that you CAN
help them and therefore help your ferret by getting them to sites such as:
 
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
(by an extremely ferret-knowledgeable veterinary pathologist and probably
the top place for vets to go first)
 
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/cryosurgery.htm
(just the newest thing there so see the rest, too, since a lot was written
by vets)
 
http://www.ferretcentral.org
(also has a lot by vets and is my personal favorite site)
 
(Could others, please, post other reliable medical resources involving
vets?  I am short on time, high on tension -- and hence sometimes recently
high on silliness to let off steam.)
 
Heck, you can even get vets copies of veterinary texts by vets or suggest
to them that they get and use these three MARVELOUS books:
 
_Essentials of Ferrets, a Guide for Practitioners_ by Karen Purcell
(1999, AAHA Press, ISBN 0-941451-73-9 )
 
_Biology and Disease of the Ferret, Second Edition_, by James Fox
(1998, Williams and Wilkins, ISBN 0-683-300034-2 )
 
_Ferrets, Rabbits, and Rodents, Clinical Medicine and Surgery_ by
Elizabeth Hillyer and Katherine Quesenberry (1997, Saunders, ISBN
0-7216-4023-0 )
 
All three are excellent books, each with it's own strengths so having all
three would probably be a great idea.
 
A little direction can save someone who is learning a LOT of time.  Back in
the early days everyone had to get info to their vets; it was the norm.
Steve and I actually had a list then of 5 vet hospitals to whom we'd send
FYIs, and they loved them.  Now-a-days, there are some vets who do know
ferrets, but since there are still those who don't it still pays to just
ask the vet if you can pass along information (such as these websites and
book list), or any new things which get mentioned on the list that come
from a reliable source.  (Be sure it's reliable; I have heard vets say that
the Internet can be the patient's best friend or worst enemy depending on
how wisely it is used.)
 
Use these resources yourself, too.  You will be glad you did.  There wind
up being so MANY people who would be helped by the info in these sources.
Just among the recent topics they cover well which recently were discussed
here (possibly because these resources hadn't been found): fur loss, help
for ferrets after surgery, mast cell tumors, training, adrenal surgical
techniques, anesthesia, chordomas, cardiomyopathy, heart worm, different
approaches for insulinomae, adrenal medical techniques, etc.  (etc., etc.,
etc., etc., etc., etc., etc...)
[Posted in FML issue 2836]