I know that there's been some debate over isoflurane anethesia vs. ketamine anethesia and I wanted to share with everyone what I found out this morning. I recently acquired two little fuzzies from the Pennsylvania Rescue Assoc. (thanks again, Kim...I just love them to death!). Ozzy is approx. 2 years old, chocolate male, dreadfully skinny, bad cough, but other than that, he's very active, loves to play, very friendly and gives kisses! Zeppelin is approx. 4 years old, sable male, not as skinny as Ozzy, but could use another pound or so, also very active, loves to play, very friendly, gives kisses and loves to sleep on mommy's lap. But, unfortunately, Zep has two skin tumors on his back and one on his foot. The vet told me that they look like mast cell growths, but he can't be sure until they operate and give a biopsy. I brought Ozzy and Zep back to the vet this morning. Ozzy needs a complete blood count and x-rays and Zep was admitted for surgery. They will be removing all three of the tumors and giving him x-rays to make sure that there are no more tumors inside his body. I'm praying that he comes through okay. I was VERY worried about the anesthesia after what I read on the FML, so asked two of the hospital's top doctors about it and they BOTH told me that isoflurane is the safest anethesia around and that they have heard about problems with ketamine. In fact, one of the doctors went as far as to say that he would refuse to do the surgery if I wouldn't let him use isoflurane because he felt that ketamine was much riskier. I trust these doctors (they are both ferret lovers and ferret experts and performed many, many surgeries. They also attend medical conferences on ferret diseases, etc. and know more than I could ever hope to know about treating ferrets and diseases. And, one of them subscribes to this list). I just wanted everyone to know what I was told this morning. And, also please say a prayer for Zep that he doesn't have cancer and that he pulls through this operation with no serious problems. Jenni Oso "Where did my two new buddies go? I want them back NOW!" Ozzy "Where are they taking my brother?! You better not hurt him or I'll bite yer butt!" Zep "I'll be okay mommy...I just want to get this over with so I can come home and sleep on your lap!" [Posted in FML issue 2249]