From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2008-06-02 18:48:17 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] some very useful references and tips for anyone
To: fhl <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
I guess I'd better not leave a job too far unfinished, right?
Some people might want to skip right to the ferret health links below
the text. The list is far from complete but these are great places
to start. Others may want to try some of the reference links first
and then read the starting paragraphs. Whichever best help you is
fine since this is meant to be a flexible resource to help as much as
possible...
Yesterday after it was speculated that I have more and more relevant
education than I do I pointed out that it's not unusual for people to
continue learning through life on their own. For me, and I think for
Steve, too, the person who brought that home the most was my Uncle Lou
(Spinola) who passed away several years ago in his mid-90s. Lou had
to quit school as just a kid to help support his remaining family of
mother and much younger sister when his father died too young. He was
a boy runner on Wall Street. That was back when learning on the job
was very often okay, too, and through the years he ascended markedly
in Wall Street because he did love to learn and worked hard so what he
tried he became good in usually, and he learned that he could learn.
That is true for most of us. Typically what a person works on hardest
is what that person does best in eventually. The bits that I know
about ferret health have been picked up over decades so they are not
anything that came in a rush, or easily, or with intensely guided
study (though I sure had some mentoring help, I guess starting with
Dr. Williams maybe about 14 or 15 years ago now).
Now, there are FHL moderators who DO have medical backgrounds. Patty
Kaczorowski is a highly knowledgeable professional in human medical
care, Bruce Williams has his doctorate in veterinary medicine with a
specialty in pathology or perhaps a doctorate in both -- I'm not sure
-- (but between the wars causing more work and cutbacks to veterans'
medical care too often in the last 7 years he's working so hard that
he doesn't have time to be on available as much as he would like).
Both know things I will never know and never even begin to know, just
as is true for the other moderators, Julie Fossa, Troy Lynn Eckart,
and Pam Sessoms do in areas where they have the background and where
they have put so much effort. That's true for everyone.
What I am trying to say, but probably doing it poorly, is that even
though learning on one's one leaves gaps we all still CAN learn on our
own. People do it all the time and examples are all around. Everyone
here probably has learned a number of things on her or his own without
realizing it so take a few minutes to think about what you have picked
up on your own, why the direction of adding those skills and knowledge
help you and others, and why the direction is right -- which is what
matters most.
I'll bet with all that he knew from being self taught almost no one
here realized that Mike Janke's professional expertise was automotive.
Okay, that said, I think it would pay for me to give some short cuts.
I don't have a lot of time today and didn't have a great deal of sleep
so I'm going to use some resources that are available to anyone.
That's one of the greatest things about the internet for me -- it
makes learning so very possible -- the only tricks are the exact same
ones that exist with books, magazines, etc. Here they are:
1. Know that not all things that have been speculated are true/proven/
well demonstrated. A number of things are worth trying because they
MIGHT work but realize that when there are large gaps in the knowledge
and a lack of pertinent and careful scientific studies, or even
studies that show very different results (though not all articles will
mention both sides) then the speculation is an idea. It might later
-- when more is known -- turn out to be a valid idea or it might not.
What is important is not to put a large amount of emotional weight
into such hypotheses because people get much more hurt (sometimes
hugely a lot which really bothers me because it is avoidable) when
hypotheses that are treated like fact don't pan out. Everyone is
always learning, including the actual experts, and putting too much
emotional weight into things that don't yet have data behind them
causes too much avoidable pain and that is heartbreaking and
frustrating.
2. Know that some types of medical problems take a lot of time to
develop, for example: some malignancies may actually have their stage
set years before and some benign growths also may. That means that
even when a health approach to avoid problems is valid there may not
be time with some adult ferrets to stop a process that is already
ongoing. That creates work for the marvelous shelter people who do i
ajob I'd never be able to do and those wonderful people who adopt esp
those who adopt ferrets with known questionable backgrounds or known
health problems already in place. People who do that work and igve
that love are absolute treasures every day. So, take time to remember
how much good you are doing.
3. Remember that no individual is identical to another. That is even
true of identical twins since even at birth some genetic replications
began differing as fetuses and replication "accidents" increase over
the years. The others have even more distance between them. So, the
more that is known about ferret veterinary care the less anyone can
say that there is one solution for things. There at times will
*currently* be what is *usually* the best approach but the more that
is learned the better the options become. So, just know that often
there are options, and even if something usually works better than an
option that still means that for some individuals the less taken road
is the right road.
4. Remember, too, that some ferrets may have genetic burdens which
enlarge their differences from others.
5. Different areas have different problems. We've seen an example
recently where there isn't anyone here with enough knowledge of
African tropical veterinary Gi illnesses to know if any of those might
be affecting some ferrets. On thinking about that I find myself
wondering -- since South Africa allowed ferrets for a while -- if
consultations with some South African veterinary professors might be
of use. It seems a really good route. Look in places like
http://netvet.wustl.edu/vschool.htm
and
http://homepage.usask.ca/~kfl094/vet_libraries.html
There are other common sense things, but I am talking way too much, so
let me get on to listing some resources to help people. That's what
you really want, anyway, if you're like me! :-)
Pretty much anyone can use these:
Archives
Pam and Eric Sessoms make the separate FHL Archives as good as they
are, and for a range of ferret topics beyond health Bill Gruber does
the same for the FML Archives.
Both sites contain instructions but this past post helps people find
that the archives really ARE friendly and easy to use:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL3544
Here are some incredibly friendly, easy to read and understand
references from the FHL Website Links section, the FHL Website Files
section and from
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
Forgive the font size on the last; I did my update then during an
especially rough time for my eyes.
Vet posts in the archives can help add newer information on top of
some of the articles listed.
AT MANY OF THESE SITES YOU WILL FIND MULTIPLE ARTICLES, NOT ALL OF
WHICH APPEAR IN THIS POST. THIS IS ONLY A SMATTERING.
Easy to use and read references; if the material is new you can always
go back and reread:
Dr. Bruce Williams' Site
http://www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/
has a range of articles, some easily accessible for anyone while other
require more background so here are some examples of very accessible
ones but you may want to try others and your vets should love the site:
feeding sick ferrets
http://www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/babyfood.html
"Answers about Cancers"
http://www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/PDF/neoplasia.pdf
IBD
http://www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/Ferret%20IBD.pdf
insulinoma
http://www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/PDF/insulinoma.pdf
lymphoma
http://www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/PDF/Lymphoma_Ferrets.pdf
as time allows Dr. Williams adds to his site. I am looking forward to
his Ferrets Magazine adrenal disease article and his update on adrenal
disease, insulinoma, and lymphoma article for Ferrets Magazine showing
up when he finally get a bit of free time.
Like the AFIP site the Miamiferret one has a range of articles; the
ones I strongly recommend are by vets or by Mike Janke though some of
the others are also marvelous.
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
adrenal disease
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/adrenal.htm
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/basics.htm
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/addisons.htm
insulinoma
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/insulinoma.htm
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/prednisone.htm
ADV (AD)
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/aleutian.htm
http://www.ferret-universe.com/health/adv.html#test
surgical safety
http://www.bradleyhills.com/ferrets/surgery/
heartworm
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/heartworm.htm
MegaE
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/megaesophagus.htm
Financial Aid
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/financial_aid.htm
Poop Chart
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/poop_chart.htm
cart specifically for disabled ferrets
http://www.ferretfarm.org/en-us/dept_98.html
ferret health issues
http://www.bradleyhills.com/ferrets/health_issues/
swallowed objects
http://www.heidihoefer.com/pages/ferrets/gi_foreign_body.htm
common problems of older ferrets
http://www.heidihoefer.com/pages/ferrets/geriatric_ferret.htm
hind limb weakness
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&A=481&S=5&SourceID=43
mites
http://www.smallanimalchannel.com/ferrets/ferret-health/ear-mites-and-skin-mites.aspx
For the ones below some FHL members might want to use some of the
dictionaries and abbreviation lists in
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/links
These are a bit harder and may involve some searching, too:
symptoms of common illnesses of ferrets
http://www.zoopath.com/DiseasesofDomesticFerrets.pdf
some of the reasons to call a vet immediately or to get to emergency
care
http://www.bellemeadanimalhospital.com/N-Call_Vet_Immed1.htm
ASPCA Poison Control Center
http://www.napcc.aspca.org
Angell Poison Control Center
http://www.mspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=poisoncontrolhotline_pagewrapperlanding
Avon veterinary poison info
http://www.avonvets.co.uk/2ndyr_hands/Poisons.html
Dr. Bruce Williams' Site
http://www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/
has a range of articles so you may want to try several and your vets
should love the site
These vary so know that some can be quite hard for non-vets:
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/physiology.htm
http://www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/ferret_pathology.pdf
http://www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/PDF/10_steps.pdf
http://www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/Clin_Path/ClinPath.html
http://www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/PDF/Ferret_GI_path_reports.pdf
http://www.afip.org/consultation/vetpath/ferrets/PDF/telecytology.pdf
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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