Hi all, I have been on the F.M.L. list since approx. 1992 and I do not post very often since I do not have a P.C. at home. Something is bothering me big time and I just have to talk to someone and I would really appreciate your opinions. I have been owned by ferrets since 1987 and I have lost ten of these beautiful animals to various diseases, but I have never lost any to surgery and I have had quite a few go through some difficult operations. My two ferrets, Weezul and Coco have had six surgeries between them. Weezul underwent three surgeries for adrenal. They did not find anything wrong the first two surgeries and on the third they removed the right adrenal, which was cancerous. Her fourth surgery was to remove an impacted anal gland. She was "descented" when she was probably only 3-4 weeks old. I suspect she came from the Fredonia farm, she is 5 years old. I bought her and her sister Teebone from a petstore (before I found out about ferret shelters) and the employee said that they were from a breeder in some small town in Kansas. Both Weezul and Teebone had problems with a butchered anal gland job. I adopted Coco when she was 8 yrs. old and she had a major surgery a few months later to remove a leiomyosarcoma which had engulfed her kidney and adrenal. A year ago she had a large mast cell tumor removed. She is going on 11 yrs. old and has insulinoma but is hanging in there. I adopted her cage-mate Niki who I found out had cardiomyopathy, diagnosed by ECG and sonogram. She also had insulinoma which took her at the age of 9 years. Towards the end of her life her diuretic was no longer effective and she began to bloat up. I took her twice a month to Vet Spec. and in the last few weeks of her life I took her every week to have the fluid in her abdomen drained. Vet Spec. gave her alittle isoflurane and drained her through her side not the belly area because she would leak fluid constantly for a day if the belly area was punctured. She tolerated this procedure very well and her heart disease was controlled by Vasotec for close to a year. Now to the point of my post. All of my ferrets have had surgeries with isoflurane and also with other procedures and I have never seen a ferret excessively salivate. I lost my beloved Teebone in October, she was Weezul's sister. Teebone began losing hair on her tail which is usually nothing to worry about, but since Weezul had an adrenal removed at age 2, I decided to have the adrenal panel done. I located a vet in my area who seemed very ferret knowledgeable. He agreed to do the adrenal panel and I also requested he do an xray since I suspected an enlarged spleen. He gave Teebone isoflurane to draw blood and do the xray. When he brought Teebone to me after the procedure, she was drooling excessively. I have never seen this in any of my ferrets. The vet said it was normal, that it was because of the bad taste the iso left in her mouth. This bothered me because the saliva just poured out of her mouth and I thought of it as a possible overdose or allergic reaction from the iso. The adrenal test came back positive for high levels of progesterone. I asked for an referral to Vet. Spec. where I have had the majority of the ferret surgeries and the vet acted surprised. He said that he could do the surgery, he had done several ferret surgeries. I agreed to have him do the surgery even though something told me to go to Vet Spec. That day after the surgery the vet said he removed a shriveled adrenal gland, a biopsy of the liver and pancreas and an enlarged spleen. He said he was taking Teebone home to keep an eye on her since she was not recovering very well. He called me at 8:00 am the next morning to say that she "gave up the ghost." I will NEVER get over her death. Teebone had a very healthy appetite, she was very playful and I saw no sign of illness. The vet stated she had liver disease, but I believe if there was liver problems she would have had a loss of appetite. One very important observation that bothers me is that I found no I.V. marks on her body, no shaved areas, no needle marks where an I.V. would have been inserted. I have always thought an I.V. would be used in a major surgery in case of hypoglycemia. If Teebone had a reaction to the iso or her glucose level dropped and she became hypoglycemic how would this be controlled? I have not confronted the vet with my questions. He made a statement when I picked up Teebones' body that he would have not done anything different. He told me not to stop at the front desk because he would not charge me for the surgery or the biopsies. Two months later I get a bill from him with added finance charge for the pathology. I called to inquire about the bill and the vet stated, " Well you know I didn't charge you for the surgery." In my mind I thought...Oh yes you did. You took my beloved Teebones' life and her life was priceless.......I am sorry Tee-Tee, Weezul and I miss you deeply. BIG please feel free to break this post up if it is too long. I would like some opinions about the I.V. and the excessive salivation. Missing Teebone, Hun-Hun, Cane, Delilah, Gracie, Boo Boo, Faucett, Fred, Sable, and Niki... Judith and Weezul and Coco [Posted in FML issue 2200]