From:
Sue M.
Date: 2001-03-03 14:48:00 UTC
Subject: Re: [Ferret-Health-list] Ferret Leg Injury
Hopefully someone better suited can address the injury, but I want
to remind folks, especially those of us out in "hicksville" (I live there
too...it's usually an hour trip between vets, and typically only one
vet per clinic) that while of course a vet experienced and
knowledgeable in ferrets is the *best* choice, that *all* vets are
*trained* to care for *animals*. They should *all* have the basic
knowledge to be able to assess a situation, even if they aren't
experienced in the particular animal. Any vet should be able to
take an x-ray to see if a bone in broken or out of place, even if they
aren't comfortable in treating it in an animal species they're not
familiar with and/or couldn't tell by feel.
Some vets will be better than others of course, we've probably all
had good and bad experiences, not all vets will be excellent for all
animals. And not all vets *will* see "exotics"...I lived two houses
down from a vet yet drove over an hour to mine because he wasn't
comfortable doing more than giving shots...and I appreciated his
honesty in that matter. I was lucky to find a vet who knew
NOTHING about ferrets other than the very basics, but LOVED to
learn and loved to have me give her information and trusted my
judgement on things, and did everything she could for my little
fuzzies.
So please don't assume that because a vet isn't a ferret
"specialist" that they won't do right by your pet. And if you can
teach a good vet something about ferrets...then there's one more
"ferret vet" in the world...and we need more! (The vet I "trained" has
shared her experience and materials she bought with other vets in
the area...so the knowledge has spread *S*)
Sue M.
tlichie@u...
suerosen@p...