CLIPBOARD AND RECORDS: I keep a clipboard with the hospital cage, and I keep the same type of medical records nurses keep on people, including medication and feeding times, food and water intake, weights, sleep and activity patterns, tooth grinding, character of bowel movements, stool blood tests, urine tests, straining during urination, and other problems, such as wheezing, coughing, retching, or vomiting. Any style clipboard will do, but I have one with a cover which folds over the notepaper to keep it clean. I suppose a binder or notebook would be as good, but I like to enter my notes in a word program, so a clipboard works better for me. I make one up for each sick ferret and it stays with it, including when we visit the vet. In fact, while I am visiting and racking up the vet bill, I have already handed the clipboard to the vet and they are looking at ALL the information I have recorded. Just as an aside, if you really want a great ferret vet, give them as much data as possible. Let them see a week or more worth of data and they will generally do a better job defining the ferret's problem and treating it. This type of data is invaluable, and it really can mean the difference between life and death for some ferrets. Get a clipboard, stick a pad of paper under the clip, tie a pencil to it, and KEEP ACCURATE NOTES! You may wonder if this is overkill when caring for a sick ferret. Certainly, in some cases it is. However, there are three arguments that support this type of record keeping. First, in critically ill ferrets it gives your vet the type of outstanding data that can be used to manage both crisis events and general care. Second, in chronically ill ferrets it gives your vet the type of terrific data needed for accurate diagnosis and treatment. Third, if the record keeping is consistent over the life of the ferret, it can provide valuable clues to long-term problems. Does your ferret suffer seasonal ailments? Do they seem to have the same problems time after time? By documenting the health history of your ferret you can track genetic (breeding) problems of the line, undiagnosed long term problems, and you can even learn to anticipate specific problems. More importantly, if this type of data was made available to the right vets, it might help them document treatments and medications, and better fine-tune ferret medicine. Overkill? Perhaps, but if you have ever spent weeks trying to figure out what is wrong with your ferret, spending hundreds of dollars in tests, this type of overkill can be worth it. One other comment about record keeping and its importance for ferret veterinary care. The FML iperiodically has posts from people complaining that vets misdiagnose ferrets, but few of them mention if they supply those vets with the type of data that eliminates false starts and dead-ends. Some vets may not know much about ferrets, but they certainly can recognize the importance of decreased urinary output, increased water intake and symptoms of irritability and restlessness. Keep good records, and show them to your vet! Bob C [Posted in FML issue 4402]