From:
<maddogs3@surfglobal.net>
Date: 2004-01-17 19:42:30 UTC
Subject: Jazz's "cold"
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <1070.64.30.63.77.1074368550.squirrel@webmail2.surfglobal.net>
Recently I posted a question regarding my ferret's cold. You responded
with some advice. Here is the outcome and it is a mind blower. Jazz was
given to us a month ago by a family whose daughter raised her. She is a
little over 1 and 1/2 years old. The mother made her give Jazz up because
she wouldn't commit to letting her out to exercise and was getting very
obese. The other day, her cold got worse and I rushed her to the vets. =
Well, Jazz isn't fat, she had a cyst that was more than one third of her
weight in her belly. It had attached itself to her spine, both kidneys
and other organs. In the end, they had to remove one of the kidneys. =
After two days of terror and exhaustion she is home recovering. There is
still the chance of infections etc. But, she seems to be going strong. =
The big concern was if the remaining kidney had been damaged during the
removal. She has peed several times since then. But, because we had been
trying to get her to lose weight by limiting her treats (not denying her
basic food at all) and pushing her to exercise it turns out she is nothing
but skin and bones without that cyst in there. I feel awful! Before any
of this came about the previous owner had told me to get a different vet
than the one they had been using because he was terrified of her. Upon
that recommendation I brought her to this new vet for the "cold" visit. =
Thank God I did that. If the other vet had just felt her stomach at some
point in time, they would have known she wasn't getting fat that something
was wrong. I know this is a very long letter but, please emphasis to
people how important it is they have a doctor who is comfortable with our
babies. Their very lives depend on it!! My fuzzie is fighting for her
life because of this man's fears as I write this. I thank you for taking
the time to give me some advice on Jazz's cold and will file it away for
future use. Thanks again, Karlene Hughes-Isham