>From: PowerPage Communications <[log in to unmask]> >A friend of mine lives in Dumont, NJ and she has had a bad experience >with a vet from Passaic County, NJ. This is my first post to this list. I'd like to start off by thanking everyone here for the wealth of information all of you provide. Sounds like your friend went to the same vet I did. My ex-wife has 6 fuzzies (Rascal, Brandy, Taz, China Cat, Bear, & Prissy) and I have 3 (Rubin, Cherise, & Stagger Lee). The best ferret vet in Bergen County is Dr. Neal Beeber of the Rutherford Animal Hospital (201 933-4111). He knows ferrets, has owned ferrets, and loves ferrets. Because this particular animal hospital can hardly be called inexpensive, we tried to limit our costs when several of our loved ones began to exhibit symptoms of ECE (Green Slime). We brought the worst one in and Dr. Beeber gave him a subcutaneous injection of fluids (and antibiotics, I think) suggested some tests, and dispensed Amoxycillin and a foul tasting but quick acting anti-diarrheal. He would have preferred keeping him overnight but as I said, we were trying to limit our costs. A few days later (a Friday) more of our ferrets began to show symptoms. In an attempt to save money (usually much more costly in the long run as we later learned) and because we didn't relaize that Beeber had available Saturday hours, we took 4 other ferrets to a Passaic County vet (on Route 46 in NJ). Based on what I had already learned from Dr. Beeber, the wealth of infomation on this list, and the wonderful erret FAQ's, it was clear that the Passaic vet knew less than we did, clearly had no affinity for fuzzies, and was no lower priced than any of the vets in the area. The whole attempt to limit costs was foolish anyway because we were only kidding ourselves. We obviously weren't prepared to save money instead of saving our ferrets. So the following Monday, we brought all of the rest of the babies in to see Dr. Beeber (Brandy, the first one he treated, was now doing much better). We explained that we wanted all well treated and wouldn't only pull the plug on spending where the prognosis was poor. As all who read this list know, the prognosis for recovery from ECE is extremely good as long as proper treatment is given. Dr. Beeber elected to keep only our sickest baby Prissy at the hospital for 2 nights. Two others got the subcutaneous injection and Amoxy, all the rest were just dispensed the Amoxy. The final bill was quite reasonable considering the amount of treatment and includd a substantial multi-pet discount. ALL are now fully recovered. By the way, I ran into the President of the local ferret club at Beeber's office. She told me that he is the only vet that their members use. I learned 2 valuable lessons: 1) Do it right the first time. 2) There may be no such thing as too many ferrets, but one should notget more ferrets acquire more ferrets than they can afford to provide proper care for. Hope this helps, Jay Bergen [Posted in FML issue 1905]