Jerri, vets are to be respected for their knowledge, education, &
experience, but they do not walk on water.

As for the ECE--to ME, the telltale sign is that the stench is so
horrible it would gag a maggot. LOL. ECE REEKS. Other stuff is green,
but ECE really reeks.

As for the pred, we always start with the lowest effective dose. This
may not be practical for those who have to go away to work. They
couldn't monitor the ferret. But we can/do/ and have the meds on hand,
in the rare event of a crash. Not one of our insulinomic babies has
a pred belly--and most live 2-3 years on prednisolone, following
diagnosis. (Because we are a sanctuary, we are able to follow the
cases clear through to the end.)

In past years, I have doubted/questioned some different vets on the
following issues that come to mind.

1. A vet tried to send me home with metacam for an insulinomic boy in
pain, who was on pred. I looked at him & said "Metacam & PRED????"
He backed down, remembering how that combination would have torn
the ferret's stomach up. The vet wasn't angry, thinking I had shown
disrespect. He simply answered "I'm glad you caught that"

2. One of our girls was extremely pale & lethargic. The Xray looked
good, but the PCV was only at 12% The vet said that most likely, she
had a bone marrow issue. He discussed options. Chemo for $2000-$3000,
etc---but stated that probably the most humane thing to do was to
euthanize her. I told him he was probably right, but that I had a gut
feeling, & wanted to take her home.(I believed maybe the blood loss
might be from a bleeding ulcer...) Figuring we had nothng to lose, I
put her on carafate, pet tinic, .5 cc's twice a day, amoxi drops, 25
cc's LRS, twice a day, and what we call "Synder soup" here. (Named
after the little fertie we saved.) I fed this soup, every three hours
around the clock. In a week, her color was returning. In two weeks, she
was terrorizing the other ferrets again. In three weeks, her weight was
returning. A month later, I returned with her to the vet. He said it
was a miracle. Synder lived another wonderful 1 1/2 years. She danced,
dooked, & ate toes. She hid her toys & played happily. She would have
been stopped short, had I listened to the vet (who is an exotic
specialist)

3. Pinky had the largest chordoma we had ever SEEN, when she came
to us. When our vet at the time amputated the end of her tail, he
instructed us to leave the pressure bandage on until the stitches came
out, because it had bled a lot. WELLLLL--with the circulation cut off
for that long, the end of her tail turned black & she developed dry
gangrene. NOT GOOD. (Here's one where I should have listened to my
guts....)

4. Years ago, we had a baby who was not eating. Had no energy at all.
He lost a great deal of weight in only three days' time. We suspected
a blockage, but that was ruled out. The vet did blood work, and the
hematacrit was up a bit, but all else looked normal. The vet had no
answers as to why the fert wouldn't eat & was so sick. Told us to just
take him home & love him---that sometimes these things just happen.
After ALL, he WAS eight years OLD!

I was holding him on the couch, and something told me to look in his
mouth. OBOY. A MOUTH ulcer!!! BIG one!!! It would have hurt TERRIBLY
to eat, with that thing in his mouth! So after $380. worth of Xrays &
tests, I gave some fluids, put together some pepcid suspension, & our
boy was eating soup all by himself, the next day. He made a full
recovery. The vet had never even thought to look in his mouth. The cost
of making him comfortable & saving his life was under a dollar. LOL.

Gut feelings should always be respected. They're there for a reason.

We have a great relationship with all our vets now. None of us walks
on water. None of us pretends to. We just want to help the ferrets.

Love,
Zoo

[Posted in FML 5653]