Finding a vet: see the FHL addy below my name at the bottom of this
post?  Go there and in the Files section read in BOTH the list of
recommended vets and the list of shelters (because the SOS list
includes vets).  Also look at another recommended vets list by using
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc,
and links to more at
http://www.ferretcentral.org
 
>I've seen lots of posts suggesting that we "lose that vet" if he or she
>does not seem to posess enough ferret knowledge to treat our precious
>babies.  If the world is so short on ferret knowledgable vets then it is
>up to us as ferret companions to change this.
 
Yes.  When we first started having ferrets there were virtually no vets
who knew about them.  Folks didn't even know which anesthesias are the
safest for them!  Now, folks can direct vets to reputable texts (In the
U.S. the most recent being through AAHA: _Essentials of Ferrets..._ by
Purcell, the most detailed but hardest to find anywhere being Fox's
_Biology and Diseases of the Ferret_ (SECOND edition), and another that
is great and which will have a new edition this year being _Ferrets,
Rabbits, and Rodents..._ by Quesenberry and Hillyer), to the tape by vet,
Charles Weiss (See the Bradley Hills and ferretdoctor addies in the
geocities addy below my name at the bottom of this message.), and the
tapes that vet, Deborah Kemmerer will have out this year (See weah addy
in the geocities list.) .)  Also, the comments BY FERRET KNOWLEDGEABLE
VETS at the FHL, and here are useful.
 
Yes, at times vets are wrong, but I sure have also seen times when the
ferret folks are the ones wrong because they just don't know the latest,
or they aren't separating hypotheses from things actually known.  The
latest instance of this is when a vet recommended sugar and Pred to a
ferret with a blood glucose level of 37 (which tends to indicate a
bad/advanced case since it's so low if the number is valid, even if the
case was hidden till now).  Well, there is a HYPOTHESIS (not a known fact)
that sugar may be bad for ferrets with insulinoma, and the hypothesis
makes sense (though no one knows if it is true or not) due to yo-yoing of
levels -- BUT that hypothesis falls apart with those in late insulinoma
because to two things: in late insulinoma the insulinomae suppress normal
insulin-producing tissues and become the primary makers of insulin, AND
because insulinomae are NOT responsive to blood-glucose-levels.  As a
result, in an advanced case of insulinoma the recommendation made would
NOT fit under the hypothesis.
 
Remember, hypotheses are things that seem like they might make sense, but
the proof doesn't exist that they actually do.  Sometimes they work and
sometimes they are "just speaking English" (See yesterday's FML if you
don't get this reference by sending: SEND FERRET 3739 to
<[log in to unmask]> .
 
There are often enough times when it is ferret-people who are the ones who
are behind the times in info.  Sometimes vets are, but sometimes WE are!
 
--Sukie
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list/
http://geocities.com/sukieslist
[Posted in FML issue 3740]