I think it would be good now to remind people that it is essential to learn what one can about the more common illnesses, and signs which mean that medical care should be sought rapidly. A few days ago the address for Charlie Weiss's new website was posted. I've got to look it up again myself -- have been ill with influenza (so the ferrets went a long while without my kisses) -- and it sure would help most anyone to go and read a site by such an accomplished vet -- not only those of us who have been around them for ages and not only new-comers to ferrets. (Charlie also has a wonderful video tape showing diagnostic and surgical procedures and techniques. Both our's and our vets' copies arrived recently.) Anyway, people need to learn and they also need to be sure to pass information on to their vets. Vets really appreciate being given copies of articles by vets such as those on Charlie's page, many of the articles at http://www.ferretcentral.org and http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc , and certainly the pages from Bruce William's http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html . It is always heartbreaking when ferrets which SHOULD have already seen a vet have not been taken there or when standard symptoms go unrecognized, but people CAN learn so that they begin to recognize what common symptoms can mean, and the pages mentioned above are a great way to start. Karen Purcell has a vet book available from the AHAA (AAHA?) which is PERFECT for any vet or vet student learning ferrets, or wanting a rapid way to look things up. Liz Hillyer and Kathy Quesenberry have one which is wonderful for the vet who wants to know yet more. James Fox has one for the vet who wants to get into very detailed or sometimes almost obscure nitty-gritty. All are magnificent. We had an eventful day today. Hadn't planned it that way. Today was a check-up and Fervac vaccinations for the crew. We always pre-medicate with Benedryl Elixir and separate vaccinations. Got some recommendations for improving Meeteetse's quadriceps tone for her sore hip joints. Then we found out that Scooter (the little guy whose mother tried to eat his hand when he was born) has a questionable-feeling kidney. The kidney doesn't feel that bad, but he'll need an ultrasound and some other tests. Given his slight heart murmur his heart will be checked at the same time just as case since the test is being done anyway. As usual we waited about a half hour after the shots. Everyone was fine. Maybe 10 or 15 minutes after we got home Jumpstart had a little vomiting. Then it became a LOT more than a little, in fact, non-stop. Got a touch more Benedryl into him rapidly and rushed him back to the vet. He had severe runs shortly after we got into the car; by the time we got back to the hospital he was flat but conscious, then when they began to treat he began bleeding intestinally. He never got really severe, fortunately, but certainly would have without immediate care. He would have died without the care. It always makes sense to stay in the vets' at least a half hour after vaccinations and then to stay with the ferrets for at least 2 hours more after that. Obviously, Jumper tries Galaxy next year and has injected Benedryl first. Warp will probably be having adrenal surgery after a while. She is losing fur on her trunk in large amounts and her skin is thinning somewhat. There isn't any inflammation of her vulva, yet, and this is an acute onset only something like half a year since she had insulinoma surgery and there was no sign of adrenal trouble then -- so we want to wait a little while so that the trouble adrenal has enough time to clearly be the problem so that it's not a matter of wondering which one is the culprit. Warpie's so prone to acne and dry skin that she usually loses tail hair from dermal problems (Tail fur loss is usually dermal.); having her now with the blackheads cleared up and tail fur in place but body hair falling out feels like looking at a negative instead of a photo. Barb, when you have time read the earlier letters from Teri of AVAR -- the ones from before she knew that the board members were being given copies of her letters. Among other things she advocated illegality of ferrets and getting rid of all domestic ferrets through sterilization. You'll also notice that the sorts of things she has been saying have until recently not been things she took the pains to explain as only her own opinions (giving the impression that they represented the group), that she has freely said such things for over a year to multiple people, that she has proven to be a closed gate when people wanted to get information through, etc. Three people have independently encountered these difficulties. Obviously, that group needs to consider how to tackle these management problems before she repeats some of her stranger comments to the wrong people, and the board members had to learn that there ARE sources of information out there. I can see where it would be hard to know what was going on seeing only the most recent letters. I found the comment that some recent research has indicated that people exposed to very clean environments may be more likely to have diabetes an interesting one. There are piles of hypotheses out there for the common illnesses (NONE with enough hard data to know which way is up so far from what I've seen), but I sure haven't seen anyone wonder if too much cleaning might be implicated in any of them for ferrets. Yet, this means that there are now at least two studies indicating that extreme cleanliness might play a part in some human disorders and diseases. If this bears out I wonder if too much cleaning might also wind up being implicated in some ferret illnesses. This doesn't mean that ferrets should live in filth, of course, but it MIGHT mean that missing out some mild immune system challenges may be asking for larger trouble or that certain cleaning products may also be involved in some diseases (or some additive or multiplicative situation). The article I had read was by someone who felt the results indicated that those who live in garishly clean surroundings simply don't have their immune systems properly challenged or taught due to the squeaky clean environment. [Posted in FML issue 2923]