[Before I begin I want to say I meant for this to be in last nite's FML but BIG'S Cybers**t (OOPS meant Cyberfert there, he he he he he, just kidding Big<GG>) pooter kicked it back at me after I done felled asleep and so I didn't know it till tonite. Pooey! So the days will be a bit off in this.] Hi Everyone, Well I am finally back from pooter limbo land.<GGG> No one had a clue what was happening with this beast this time until I called my dear FML friend Katie Walker long distance to check on some things. I mentioned the problem and she knew exactly what was going on because it used to occur to their college computers all the time. In the end I only needed to go under the control panels and toss the Easy Access one into the trash and problem solved! YAY!! Well hopefully my friend David told you that Larry had his Adrenal Surgery on Thursday. He came thru great and was all wiggly and ready to go home shortly after coming out of the anesthesia. He has been home for 3 days as of when you will read this on the FML. He is eating and doing well and just tonite he wanted out of the cage to join up with the rest of The FANG GANG and so I let him. He went straight to a hidey hole where about 5 or 6 of them sleep together and went right to sleep. I am very relieved!:-) Oh, by the way I have had a major wonderful thing happen thru all this too. You see I got this terrible feeling about having the Petsmart vets doing the shelter work as I found out later none of them have done these basic operations on ferrets but for one vet who has done "1" adrenal surgery. YIKES!! They also ONLY do surgery if ABSOLUTELY necessary and they couldn't give me a good description of how they determine if something is absolutewly necessary. I figured if I went to them for the exams and diagnosis I would just have ended up wasting the wonderful donation money my boys received for their care (THANK YOU ALL AGAIN!) because they very likely would then say no to doing the surgery. Thay had no experience either and that troubled me greatly. So I kept on calling vets and finally found what we feel is our ANGEL VET. He has done a great deal of every surgery I can think of on ferrets and he is very up to date on his info. too. I asked him lots of questions and he always had the right answer. He is probably in his 30's so should be around a long time <GG> and he jumped at the chance to work with us. The owner of the practice is a different vet there that also knows ferrets just not quite so well. I took Silver in to him and she was diagnosed with an enlarged spleen to be removed in a few weeks after the 3 other boys get taken care of. Then we talked discounts for the shelter and he agreed on 10%. That may not seem like a lot but his prices to begin with were way below everyone elses. For Larry's Adrenal Surgery plus a pain shot and two take home meds came to $180something, not sure of the exact amount since the treasurer (MOM) has all the records at her home.:-) Plus I had a funny feeling Dr. Koob the ANGEL VET would come thru in ways that would discount it further <GGGGG>. BTW in case anyone else is wondering and since it was recently mentioned to me, YES my Mom has a real name but she absolutely hates her name and introduces herself to EVERYONE as MOM! So I am not denegrating her or giving her less respect because I do not say her name but rather I am respecting her wishes to not be introduced by her real name. And so she is and always will be MOM! A very wonderful and special MOM too. I and the ferts all oughta know! <GGG> Today is Saturday and this morning Otee goes in to have a catheter put in his little wee wee and then x-rays etc.. to try and determine the cause of his dribbling pee. It is so bad now that it has scalded ALL the hair off from down there! So we have to see if there is a deformity in the growth of the penis or an infection or an injury etc... Also I believe he is doing blood tests too to try and see what they might show. I am still prepared for a possible adrenal problem with him too. Then on Monday little Stryker goes in to have about the last 1/2 inch of his tail removed to get all of the tumor thingy. Then it will be sent for testing to determine exactly what it was. I heard from someone that said that I am real quick to always ask for help if I need it but I do not follow up on what is happening. Actually I do. I have mentioned the problems getting a good vet for these two boys now in many posts as time has passed. I was not going to let the wrong doctor cut into them and have them die due to my impatience to get it done. I had to feel right about it or just keep on waiting and looking for another vet. When I finally found this vet I set up the 3 surgeries that very day on Tuesday, to be done on Thursday, Saturday and Monday. Pretty fast I believe. When you heard nothing from me it was simply because nothing had changed with them. I did keep mentioning vet problems during that time tho. We were still trying desperately to find an experienced vet even if he if wouldn't give us a discount. I just wanted someone that knew what they were doing no matter what the cost. I feel now that my patience has paid off in finding a very experienced and caring vet that seems to truly love little ferts and helping the shelter too. When I took in the 4 boys for exams and diagnosis etc.. he charged me for only "1" exam fee!! I am overjoyed that I have found such a fantastic vet here like I have heard of other shelters having where they are. This vet, Dr. Koob, even OK'd me coming in from time to time to see the actual surgeries performed. I asked him about teaching me some things I would need to know with running the shelter and he was very receptive to doing that. This man will be a wealth of information for me to learn from and I can tell he will be a wonderful teacher as well. He has a good sense of humor and was really a very nice man, even MOM felt that too.<GGG> So I better get off here now and try to finish the dang newsletter, almost done (fingers crossed). I really apologise for this being so *^&%&*) late but with the pooter freaking out and then I had teeth problems that landed me in the emergency room a couple nites ago to get a pain shot then to the dentist the next two days and finding two teeth, molars, on the left side that had big ol' cracks inside them. One had to go bye bye and was pulled on the spot the other he thinks he got the crack drilled out of and it is saveable but only time will tell for sure. So with all this real unexpected stuff happening the newsletter got trapped in the pooter and has now ended up later than I ever thought possible. I hope to be able to mail the dang thing out tomorrow or Monday at the latest. I do have out of town company arriving tomorrow and staying for 4 days so I will have to squeeze it in if I can't finish tonite. I do believe she will be taking my sweet Cloud Dancing home with her and she even wants to keep the name I have chosen for him:-) That makes me soooo very happy! I will write tonite after Otee comes home from the vet to tell you all what happened. THANKS ALL!! Off to the newsletter now, TNT! PS : I did finish the darn newsletter Saturday morning and it will be in the mail to you all on Monday, my Apologies To You All Again! Also Otee came back from the vet today and we were told he has a raging bladder infection ascending. Also the sheath for his penis to come out of when he potties was too small for him to get it out of it very well so our Angel Vet had to operate and make the opening bigger. Not an inexpensive operation either:-( Hopefully once healed it will all work like new and without problems like dribbling, infections, etc... He refused to stay in the cage for even 5 minutes after coming home and already has gotten into a scrape with Tribble over the space on the bathroom floor tonite<GG> Boy you just can't keep a good ferret down huh? LOL! Now I just need to come up with a surefire fundraiser or something to rebuild our shelter fund as after all these kids it will be very bare indeed. Anyone have a great fundraiser idea for us?? Send them my way please, we need all the ideas we can get! TNT! Kelleen & The FANG GANG F.A.N.G. Shelter & Club (No signature lines tonite BIG. Due to excessive length I left it off. THANKS!) [Posted in FML issue 1618]