From:
sunni_321@yahoo.com
Date: 2003-05-04 21:07:08 UTC
Subject: Re: ID Microchips (and more)
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <5347560.1052082428785.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
*laugh* I feel like such a nerd! I thought I was all trend setting becaus=
e mine are the only ferrets my vet has ever chipped, and that was at my ins=
istence! The fact that others are doing it without anesthetizing them, tha=
t does kind of bother me. =
I've went to the same pet hospital since I was a kid, well... my parents us=
ed this vet anyway. So, 20 years anyway. He doesn't actually treat my fer=
rets as he admits he doesn't have small animal experience. Whereas the vet=
I do use, at the same pet hospital is their "small animal vet". I've alwa=
ys liked her because she is so good to my babies (the "boss" doctor, whom t=
he hospital is named after, obviously doesn't much care for them. He only =
saw Maddie once, the others never, and at that visit said I should schedule=
the rest of her shots with the small pet chick). =
Let me explain some bothersome things that have happened in the past week t=
hough, the chip inserts.... apparently they didn't necessarily need to be a=
nesthetized to do them? Secondly, Maddie has swollen lymph nodes (I came t=
o this group in hopes of finding out more about that), my vet says that we'=
ll just keep an eye on her because she's not sick otherwise. And, lastly, =
Howard, (my sweet baby Howie, secretly my favorite, I root for him because =
he is the lone boy with the two LARGER sisters) turns out to be a girl. Ho=
wie is 17 months old, has been to the vet four times for his boosters and o=
ne year checkup/shots, and twice for being naughty (eating through a plasti=
c bag of bagels and getting a tummy ache, and again for eating the end off =
a bar of soap and getting yet another tummy ache) and in the six times he w=
as their, seven counting the chipping, it wasn't until the pre-op prep that=
a TECH discovered that he was a girl. (Funny, actually... she called me t=
o find out which was Howie and which was Tori, I explained that Maddie was =
the fat one, Howie was the boy, and Tori was the only one left... and she h=
esitated, and said, actually... you have three females... to which *I* hesi=
tated, and meekly asked, are you sure?) When I picked them up, I said to m=
y vet "So, Howie's a girl?" Yup, he's a girl, "How come we just found out?=
He's a year and a half old". She said that when ferrets are neutered/spa=
yed pre-pubescently that the differences aren't as obvious, unless you are =
specifically looking for them. So, she just never noticed? Maybe I'm just=
being too harsh about this, but, shouldn't she have noticed? She always c=
hecks the girls for swollen genitailia, wouldn't that have made her notice?=
Maybe she didn't check Howie because she didn't think he had a vulva *shr=
ug*.
I feel so mean, like because Maddie might be sick, and she advises doing no=
thing, I'm looking for a reason to not like her, so... here are some reason=
s why I DO like her. She is good to my ferrets, remembers them by name, pr=
aises them (and me) lavishly for how nice their coats are, how obviously we=
ll taken care of they are. In the past, I've liked her don't panic mode, w=
hen Howie ate the plastic bag and half a bagel, as I was on the phone to th=
e vet, I was online transferring money from savings for what I felt certain=
would be a costly surgical bagel removal, or at least expensive xrays and =
around the clock vet monitoring to make he hadn't, in the quest for a littl=
e more sophisticated breakfast, done himself in. She just felt him up real=
good, suggested feeding him lots of ferret laxative, chided him gently for=
not eating his own breakfast, and said to take him home, watch him, and if=
he went poopie yet that day, then he would be okay. She didn't want to pu=
t him through the rest if it could be avoided. I left thinking... well, no=
, when he did potty, I thought that she rocked :) =
So, what to do? I've thought of getting them thoroughly examed elsewhere, =
and if they are okay (nothing else missed, no glaringly contradictive thoug=
hts/advise on their well being), just letting this go... =
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