Nancy, I am so sorry about Bree's unexpected death 2 days after insulinoma surgery. Its very difficult with ferrets to know they are sick, because they are so stoic. This is why I feel its so important to perform preop blookwork to make sure that there are no unexpected problems. Unfortunately unexpected complications can occur in human or veterinary medicine. In my experience with preop bloodwork, an experienced ferret surgeon, isoflurane anesthesia (exclusively---not ketamine), an intraop heart monitor and prophylactic antibiotics the compilcation rate for any ferret procedure can be kept to an absolute minimum. Again, I'm so sorry for your loss. Dr Weiss [Posted in FML issue 1349]