Last summer, Strudel started losing his hair; I naturally suspected adrenal cancer and took him to a well-known and -respected ferret vet in my area. My suspicions were confirmed and he underwent surgery, during which the vet also found nodules on his pancreas, which he also excised. Strudel returned to his normal active lifestyle, but suffered from two bouts of insulinoma-induced drooling, spaciness and lethargy. The first of these episodes was only a few weeks after his surgery and we (the vet and I) felt that perhaps his pancreas was still adjusting to the poking, prodding and cutting it had suffered and that he needed no more than observation. The second episode happened less than a month ago; I couldn't bring him out of it so I took him to the emergency vet overnight and then to my regular vet. He recommended another surgery, as this was over a year since his first surgery. Two days ago, he was scheduled for this surgery. I woke up early to take him in, and discovered him in bad shape - he was not just "spacey," he appeared to have suffered a seizure. My fiancee and I took him in and instructed the to techs get him stabilized (dextrose IV, heating pad, etc.). I didn't hear anything the rest of the day, so I called and learned that he had recovered from his episode and the vet had gone ahead with the surgery. When I talked to the vet later that evening, he told me that everything had been fine and Strudel was recovering; I could pick him up the next day. The next afternoon, I drove down to the vet's office to pick him up. When I told the tech working the reception desk who I was and what I was there for, he looked confused and couldn't find his file. Alarm bells started going off in my head. Finally, he asked if I wanted to come into the back and see him. Uh-oh. Why do I need to go in the back? Shouldn't he be brought to me? I was then informed that "he had taken a turn for the worse." There he was, unconscious, in his cage and on a heating pad (his temperature was low). His breathing was labored and his abdomen appeared distended. In addition, he now had a large bruise on his back that wasn't there when I had brought him in. The tech on duty informed me that she had come in at 3 p.m. (it was now about 6 p.m.) and he was like this at that time. She had force-fed him some wet food and water, but she had ceased doing so because he did not appear to have a swallow reflex any more. Naturally, I was very alarmed, as he did not respond to my touch, voice or scent. The tech related to me that she had tried to call the vet, but he was out of town and unreachable. There were two other vets in the office, but they didn't know anything about ferrets. I then asked her to call another area vet. She did so, but the vet was with a patient and had to call us back. In the meantime, I quizzed her, asking about how long he'd been like this, what his blood glucose level was, etc. She had no answers for me and his chart didn't reveal much. Eventually, the second vet called back and consulted with both the tech and me. Upon her advice, the tech had a chest x-ray done and gave him some more pain medication; the second vet recommended that we take him to the emergency clinic near our home (which is about half an hour away from the vet's office) because he would need overnight monitoring, and neither her office nor my vet's office offered that service. We took him right away, speeding the whole time. He stopped breathing about 10 minutes into our trip and had passed away by the time we got him to the emergency clinic. Needless to say, I'm quite upset. I understand the risks of surgery and knew when I dropped him off that things could go bad. Regardless, I have a problem with the way my vet's office handled Strudel's care. I don't know how long he had been unconscious or how long his distended abdomen and bruise had been visible, but the tech on duty when I got there clearly knew something was wrong. What's worse is that, even recognizing a problem, they were content to do nothing because my vet was out of town. It was only my presence that spurred them to call the second vet (which should have been obvious because the two vets have a working relationship and cover for each other regularly). To top it all off, the techs seemed very nonchalant about the whole affair, as if Strudel's condition were routine and not critical at all. Even to my untrained eye, I could see that he needed immediate care. I don't know whether to attribute this to their constant exposure to sick and dying animals or that they didn't comprehend the serious nature of his condition. Either way, I feel like they violated my trust. My question: am I overreacting or am I just blinded by my grief? I understand that vets are people, too, and deserve vacations and can't work 24 hours a day. But, in my opinion, the staff didn't do enough to save my baby's life. At the very least, I feel like they should have called me, explained the situation and sent us to another vet long before I arrived to pick him up. My one comforting thought is that he passed with us and not in a vet's office. [Posted in FML issue 4645]