I had something happen to me this weekend and I am curious to see how many others have had similar experiences. Because of my own stupidly, Tyson required emergency care Saturday night. He had adrenal surgery on Wednesday and around 7pm Saturday night, split his stitches and had more than an inch of 'body parts' hanging out. First, I called my vet's office and got a recording saying he was not available and if there was an emergency, I should call into Columbus (OHIO). Then I called his home and left a message on his machine explaining the problem and saying if I didn't hear from him in 10-15 minutes, I would call the emergency number. When he didn't call back, I called the number. The first place did not see ferrets-they gave me another number to try. The second place would see him, but after 20 minutes couldn't get a surgeon to respond so they gave me a third number to try. The third place would see me, but it was a little over an hour drive. I just jumped in the car and went. When I finally got there, she attempted an exam and gave me her opinion. (I could give more details here, but will skip them due to this already being so long!) She said it was intestines hanging out and they were badly damaged. It would require a very delicate surgery to remove the damaged section and to try to stitch the rest back together. She said the chance of infection was very great and that he would need a drainage tube and intensive care for three to five days. She gave him a 40% chance of pulling through and told me to think about it while she drew up an estimate. When she returned, she handed me an estimate for $1500.00! I will skip what happened next because it wasn't very pleasant. Thankfully, about that time, my vet called! He talked to the emergency vet and she told him everything she had told me. He then asked to speak to me again and told me to meet him at his clinic as soon as I could.....I reminded him that I was an hour away! He said to just get there as soon as I could....without getting a speeding ticket! I arrived back at my vet's office around 10:30. It had been over three hours and remarkably, Tyson still looked good. The vet gave him a quick exam and then told me I was going to be his surgical assistant and we headed back to the operating room. It turns out the 'intestines' hanging out weren't really intestines at all! It was body fat! Just body fat! The inside stitches had held and everything inside looked good! He removed the tissue, stitched him back up, gave him an antibiotic injection and sent us home. Tyson is doing very well and is recovering nicely from his ordeal. I, on the other hand, am not! I am furious at the emergency vet as I am sure she was trying to take advantage of the situation. Her estimate of $1500.00 was almost unbelievable to me. When my goat was young, he had a blockage and he required emergency surgery because his bladder almost ruptured. Two days later, while still with the vet, he blocked again and they had to do surgery a second time...this time to turn him from a little boy goat to a little girl one! He had a drainage tube put in and ended up being at the animal hospital for 28 days.....my total bill was $750.00. This vet was going to charge twice that for Tyson. My heart tells me she was trying to get as much money as she could. She could tell he was a very beloved friend and must thought I was an easy mark! My vet says, she miscalculated my personality because when I confronted her, she backed down. And what's worse is that I believe if I had agreed to the surgery, she would have done the exact same thing as my vet...only charged me for the 'intestine' surgery. I am still furious over this, but short of telling people to avoid this clinic, the really is nothing I can do. I can't help but think about all the families who have lost a dear friend to practices such as this. To me, $1500.00 is two month's house payments. I would have paid it to save his life, but there are people who are in no position to be able to afford that, so, an animal who could very well go on to lead a happy and normal life is put down because some vet has forsaken their oath in lieu of lining their pockets. It makes me sick! I also think it's important to stress that this was NOT an emergency clinic. This was a private practice where the vet agreed to see me because I couldn't find anyone else. I understand that due to a lack of steady clients, emergency clinics charge higher prices but they have a 24 hour staff and wonderful high-tech equipment. This was not the case for me....it was a private practice. I am curious if others out there have had experiences like this and how they handled it. I know there is nothing we can do to stop practices like this, but I would be interested in hearing other stories and how they were dealt with. I look at Tyson and think about the choice I was almost forced into and it makes me ill! If you would like to e-mail me off-list, that's fine! Anyone in the Columbus area wanting the name and location of this vet, please let me know! I also want to add a warning about 'sick cages.' I have the largest SuperPets cage available. I bought extra shelves so I can change the cage around from time to time. Whenever I need a sick cage, I just remove the shelves between levels. This time, the distance between the two levels was pretty great and Tyson had not been in very good shape so I did not worry about closing off the top hole. After 3 days of playing nurse, I needed a break and went to dinner. Was gone a little over an hour and when I returned, Tyson was up on the top level...just standing there looking at me. I figure he had jumped and pulled himself through the hole. Then I saw the body parts hanging out of his stomach....he ripped his stitches getting through the hole! What I have done in the past when I needed the sick cage is to remove the middle shelf and snap it right up under the top level to close off access completely. I didn't do that this time and Tyson paid dearly for my mistake. I don't want anyone to have to go what I went though so if you have a Superpets cage and you need to turn it into a sick cage, all you have to do is snap one of the shelves right up against the one with the hole. It blocks it completely leaving no way through and nothing to grab onto. Don't just assume the hole is too far away!! Judy Cooke Tyson, Hope and Einstein Precious Lily, Chaucer and Boomer!! [Posted in FML issue 4188]