Thanks so much to Nancy Tresch who put our shelter on her "send a buck to a shelter" list. While these donations will not solve our BIG problems, every dollar helps and the thoughtfulness involved in sending these donations inspire we shelter owner/operators to keep up the hard work. A note on drawing blood from ferrets for lab tests; the sites listed in a recent post sounded like something straight from an animal torture text. A cardiac stick is a needle straight into the heart. Decidedly NOT something either you or your ferret will enjoy, and it can do permanent damage to the heart. No responsible vet does this to obtain a blood sample. Tail sticks are also painful and I never heard of it done to ferrets in a normal vet setting. The vena cava is the main blood supply vein of the the body and is a large vessel running from throat to groin. It is buried deeply in the chest and abdomen. No responsible vet uses this source either--it can be dangerous. Once nicked, the ferret can bleed to death. Under normal veterinary circumstances, the jugular vein is best for large amounts of blood, such as needed for a complete panel but the jugular can be hard to find on ferrets. It has two branches; one down each side of the windpipe on the throat. It takes an experienced vet or tech to do it correctly but is less hazardous even if it is jabbed several times and missed. If only a small hematocrit tube is needed (professional labs only need a tiny amount of blood to do a lot of testing), the simple way is the cephalic vein, one of which runs right down the top of each arm of the ferret. Using a piece of latex tubing as a small tourniquet, knoted once and secured with a hemostat clamp, the leg is minimally shaved and disinfected with alcohol. A needle without syringe is slipped into the vein and the hematocrit tube filled directed from the hub of the needle. If a larger amount of blood is needed, a 1cc syringe can be attached but care must be taken not to draw too hard or the vein will be squeezed shut. This method causes the least trauma to the ferret, both physically and psychologically. If your vet needs info on clinical methods used with ferrets, our shelter will gladly provide a booklet on this and common ferret illnesses, typical behavior, care, etc. at no charge. Just e-mail a physical address and we will send it along. This is part of our service as a shelter. Ferret Rescue of the Western States, Colorado Springs, CO [Posted in FML issue 2300]