From:
FurTulsa
Date: 2001-05-11 19:03:00 UTC
Subject: Situation Advice?
Local person took in their moms ferret from OKC. Brought it
over to me for advice because the vets treatment was doing no
good. Turns out the vet had diagnosed Insulinoma, all symptoms
matched for Insulinoma but the ferret was on LudaLyse???
They also were feeding REALLY bad food, so I gave them sheets
on care and nutrition and several sample bags of good foods
and some of my own food mix.
I advised them to immediately go to one of our local vets I
trust with ferrets, they did and the ferret was verified
Insulinomic and taken off the LudaLyse and put on
Prednisone... surgery was advised but the owner says they can
not afford it.
Owner called last week to ask me if I could baby-sit this
weekend, I said sure... she then told me that she had recently
had the ferret back to the vet because he has "skin abrasions,
scratches, subtle bruising and marks with patchy hair loss"...
the vet found NOTHING to indicate the cause or reasoning and
is totally baffled.
We talk some more and I suggest that unless we can find out
the cause, I would want to put him in isolation while
babysitting.
Finally at the end... literally as she was hanging up, she
asked if she needed to bring his cage.... I told her it
depended on several factors and to call me the day before...
how many rescue I had versus open cage space... also whether
their cage was easily transportable or a pain to move. She
said "Oh it's real easy to transport, it's just a small rabbit
cage with a handle"... then hung up.
She called back yesterday to tell me a friend would be staying
at her place and she didn't need me to baby-sit. I questioned
her some more about the cage... she said it is old, made of
wire, single level and about 2x1 feet or so... no hammock or
anything just an old towel to sleep in. I asked her how much
time per day he spent in this cage and she said he was only
OUT of it maybe an hour a day if they had time.
I told her about proper cages, time out for ferrets etc and
she said she knew about it but she couldn't afford a better
cage. They HAVE indicated that they all love this ferret and
would never consider giving it up.
I have three questions.
1. Is it possible that living in this cage is the cause of the
mysterious skin conditions? I have seen that type of skin on
rescues living in ratty small cages before... and with the vet
unable to find a medical cause?
2. Do I have a right to tell the vet what I know? Technically
I have no right to discuss another client with her, but I feel
this could be an important factor in her trying to treat the
skin condition?
3. I have some used cages here at the shelter I had for sale
for $30-$50... I am tempted to call her and offer her one for
no charge, and even toss in a hammock just so I will know the
poor thing has a decent cage... but am I just being a sucker?
Am I just enabling someone who doesn't want to have to spend
the money to care for their ferret? My husband gets irritated
because I am too generous trying to help others and it all
comes out of our own pocket, and we are not rich by any
means... and feels I am letting people take advantage of me...
but also it is hard for me to sit and not do anything to help
this ferret.