Last week I received a call from a young man who said he needed to give up
his ferrets, as his landlord had found them and was annoyed by their
existance.  He said they were very friendly, and about 6 years old.  Would I
take them?  Of course I would - so Saturday evening, he called me at close
to midnight, said he was in the neighborhood and could he drop them off.
Kinda late, but I said sure.  The ferrets, Tia and Spain, arrived at
midnight.  The owner didn't even have the decency to bring them himself, but
had a friend do it for him.
 
Tia, the albino male, looked awful.  He was thin, grotesquely so, had a
tumour hanging off a rear leg so big it may as well have been a third leg,
and he was as blind as a bat.  He looked so terrible that I was sure he
wouldn't make it through the night.  But he did, and a sleepy, skinny face
greeted me sluggishly in the morning.
 
Chris and I were at a loss.  Our shelter fund has dwindled this summer to
almost nothing, leaving us to fall back on our own resources to pay for
rescues which depleted our own "stash" as well, especially since our
roommate moved out.  Tia presented an expensive problem.
 
Off to the vet we went, where it was discovered that Tia's leg tumour was
easily removeable, but there was an additional mass in his spleen.  His
extreme underweight and shakiness made recovery from surgery doubtful.  But
we didn't really want to euthanize him and neither did Dr. Brondwin, our
vet.  He said he could do an exploratory and remove the masses.  I explained
that we couldn't afford it, but if we could defer payment (which we never
do) until our student loans came in in September, we would be very grateful.
He seemed annoyed that we spent our student loans on things like this, and
sent me home after ordering me to leave Tia with him.
 
We picked Tia up today and he looks just terrible.  He's all shaved up the
belly and down the side and he is skinnier than anything I have ever seen
before.  But he's alive and the tumour on his leg and the mass in his spleen
have been removed and sent off to biopsy.  The receptionist nudged me and
handed me the bill ... I took a deep breath and looked ...
 
Dr. Brondwin had done the whole thing, about $700.00 worth of surgery plus a
teeth cleaning and antibiotics, for $100.00.  Including taxes!  I wanted to
thank him, but he waved it away and told me he wanted to see Tia again
Monday and would I please phone him in a day or so and tell him how Tia was
recovering.
 
There is still no guarantee that Tia will survive the next 48 hours, and he
may always drag that hindleg since the tumour was surrounded by lots of
little nerves that were apparently difficult to avoid.  But that Dr.
Brondwin, who has always been kind, could be so sufficiently wonderful as to
do this great thing, absolutely reminded me what wonderful people there are
in this world and how lucky the ferrets are to have a man like Jack Brondwin
in the veterinary profession.
 
If everyone could take a moment or two, I'd love to show Dr. Brondwin how
much his wonderful aid is appreciated by ferret lovers everywhere.  Because
without vets like him, lots of our shelters wouldn't be able to stay afloat,
and anyone who has adopted from a shelter knows how important it is to keep
our ferret shelters going.  So if you can find a moment to drop a line to
Jack Brondwin, care of my e-mail address, and tell him that you heard about
what he did and you think it's wonderful, I would really appreciate it, and
Tia would too!!  We are seeing him again Monday, and I'd love to be able to
bring him a stack of your e-mails.  It's a small token of my immense
gratitude, and I'd be forever grateful to you all.
 
Thanks and love from Tia and the other Wherret Ferrets,
 
Sheena
e-mails to Dr. Jack Brondwin DVM care of:  [log in to unmask]
 
Wherret Ferrets Halfway House and Ferretry
Ferret Association of Greater Vancouver
[Posted in FML issue 1661]