Thank you to all for your loving, caring, thoughts/wishes/prayers.  Podo
left us Friday.  I am at peace with his leaving.  Our vet did a necropsy
Monday evening (my fault for the delay, I wasn't thinking) and he believes
it was a massive E. Coli infection.  The previous caretaker was feeding a
baby food recipe and kept it for longer than 48 hours, as long as a week,
in the fridge.  Please take note that there is a very valid reason to
freezing any recipe that will not be eaten in 36-48 hours.  If the ferret
is healthy, the E.Coli may not be lethal, but if they are compromised as
Podo and his companions were, then it can be deadly.  One of the problems
with E. Coli is that when you kill it, it releases toxins.  That was
probably the case for Podo.
 
Vet Bills - We pay full price for our vet services and I try to pay up
front.  Occassionally our vet won't have the billing in the computer when
we leave so we pay for it next time.  I pay cash for what I can and the
rest goes on my credit cards.  I've never asked that he extend credit to us
because it would get way out of hand very quickly.  The end of December we
had surgeries and picked up vet supplies - over $700.  This week we have
2, possibly 3 adrenal/insulinoma surgeries scheduled for another $400-$600.
This is typical for us.  In a typical year we spend $6,000 - $10,000 in vet
care.  No, I'm not rich, I have good credit on my cards and I work 2 jobs
to keep up the payments.
 
Hugs to all. tle
Troy Lynn Eckart
Ferret Family Services
http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~sprite/ffs.html
http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Haven/5481/
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[Posted in FML issue 2934]