From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2009-02-07 17:49:26 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] REALITY check
To: fhl <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>
Okay, having heard from a distressed and beleaguered veterinary
medical professional (who has been helping care for someone's animals
-- I won't say what type -- at a marked discount when the person gets
around to bringing them in too infrequently) while the person publicly
complains about the small portion of cost still being billed, it is
time for some important reminders given from a ferret needs
perspective, so bear with my points of view if you so choose:
1. There is no substitute for vet care. None. Yes, vet care is
expensive (but so are the expenses the vets have and they also need to
eat. I've never seen any vet get rich unless that vet decided to sell
private "only I know about this" books and cures, and those people
tend to not be worth a person's money. Normal vets are definitely not
living high on the hog. Verbally beating up on the health
professionals is simply unfair. Resources like the FHL help because
information gets shared but they are not a substitute for care.
2. No medicine lasts forever. A melatonin implant lasts just a few
months. Even the large Lupron depots only last about 3 months. Then
the medicine is gone. If untreated then the problems arise again.
So, again, once those meds have worn off there is no substitute for
veterinary care.
3. Medical conditions change over time. It DOES become necessary to
retest blood glucose levels and change meds, to check a failing heart,
to do urine concentration measurements on a ferret with chronic kidney
disease, and so forth. Not providing them is tantamount to not
treating or not treating effectively. (BTW, with humans it has
recently been found that measuring neutrophil gelatinase-associated
lipocalin (NGAL) in the urine and blood is a good, independent
predictor of the disease's progression, so that begs the question
whether it might also help spot chronic kidney disease in ferrets
since it is so often hidden in them. This Italian work was by Dr.
Michele Buemi and colleagues from University of Messina, with their
report published online ahead of print in the Clinical Journal of the
American Society of Nephrology.)
4. It may feel good to gripe about a situation where care is not
being provided, but the picture is incredibly complex. Not all people
who once provided good homes can any longer provide good homes for the
numbers or types of animals they have. Sad -- incredibly sad -- but
true. Some of these people had their circumstances change, with some
merely needing to figure out where and when they can pare things back,
not only for their animals' care, but for their own care, their home,
their day to day expenses, etc. Information really helps on that
score. People can also be helped by keeping weekly budget books, and
sometimes by aids such as
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/financial_aid.htm
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL6162
(which has links to further help)
Yes, budget books are a pain in the rear end, but speaking as someone
who has kept one every week for decades to manage our money well
enough that we and our ferrets can be fine I welcome more company in
doing so rather than gripes about that.
Some people may be able to work up a fostering situation with a
shelter, but with the economy needing to have some long term boosts
(its own long-term medical treatment, with Moody's noting that every
dollar put into tax rebates makes $1.02 for the economy short term,
and every dollar put into infrastructure makes $1.59 short term,
though both have long term benefits since savings prop up banks and
reduce debt load, and infrastructure sets the stage for meeting future
industry needs) we all KNOW that shelters are under a lot of economic
pressure as well, with more animals coming in but less money available
for them.
Meanwhile, vets have enormous expenses, and don't think that the
special needs of ferret care doesn't add to their operating expenses
because they definitely do.
So, if a person gripes about not being able to afford vet care, well,
that might feel good to that person, an emotional release, but it is
such an incomplete picture that it is unfair to the ferrets and to the
veterinary professionals. There are people out there who are having
vets reduce their bills pretty much to the vets' own costs who still
complain because the vets aren't providing care will come from the
vets' own pockets. Honestly, I think those people tend to not realize
just how much help they are getting, and just how much their costs
have been reduced.
Meanwhile, it is unfair to make out the people who can't afford care
to be wrong unless they are adding animals when they can't care for
the animals, or unless they have sunken into hoarding in which case
the animals need new homes and the people need professional help so a
difficult mixture of sympathy with action is needed but from a
distance it is not usually possible to know when that situation exists:
http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/oct02/021015a.asp
http://www.tufts.edu/vet/cfa/hoarding/
http://www.psychiatrictimes.com/display/article/10168/54031
http://www.hsus.org/pets/issues_affecting_our_pets/behind_closed_doors_the_horrors_of_animal_hoarding.html
People who are going through very rough times need to be careful that
they don't topple over into thinking that no one else can care for
their animals as well as they can, or that the animals would die
without them, while at the same time those people are not providing
needed veterinary care or even day to day care in the worst cases.
That combo becomes hoarding.
So, this is a terribly complex picture and honestly there USUALLY ARE
NO VILLAINS! It may feel good to gripe, but otherwise it achieves
nothing, and it may even undermine a relationship with a vet who has
been providing good care with reduced prices. Biting the hand that
feeds you (Sorry, another pun.) tends to be a very poor choice in this
life.
5. Changing vets repeatedly causes confusion and undermines care as
well as ultimately being more expensive. Find a vet and let the vet
collect the info all in one place and observe over time. That doesn't
mean that second opinions and consultations are not useful because
they are useful, but unlike changing vets there is COMMUNICATION
between the vets so information is not lost when such consultations
are done.
5. Ferret health care IS expensive. That is the nature of the
beast. (Forgive the pun.) Ferrets are small so not all equipment or
approaches work for them. Their problems differ from those of dogs
and cats. (It bears repeating.) We find that over a lifetime our
ferrets currently run an average of about $5,000 each, with some more
expensive and some less so. Now, our location is an expensive one for
land, taxes, salaries of employees, etc. so other locations can be
less expensive but people in those locations also tend to have lower
incomes to match the lower expenses.
6. Vets have enormous expenses. Unlike human medical professionals
(who deal with higher insurance costs) vets have to provide their own
complete hospitals and often pharmacies, too. Like human medical
professionals they has high education costs and then have to stay
updated on a regular basis with continuing credits which also adds to
costs. They have to buy land, buildings, utilities, x-ray equipment,
anesthesia, tables, insurance, pay employees, and so very much more,
and then on top of it most tend to help shelters and people in hard
circumstances at reduced cost. How many people in other professions
do you know who do all of that?
Summary: There are ways to budget though they may not be enough for
all, there is aid but it may not apply for all, and vets tend to often
reduce costs to help people who are in trouble, but when these things
are not enough then more radical solutions such as new homes, cheaper
pet choices, and fewer pets have to be considered seriously FOR THE
SAKE OF THE ANIMALS. Destroying the animals instead of finding new
homes does not make sense; in fact, thinking that destruction is the
only alternative is a sign of either being naive (which can happen,
especially with young people) or toppling over into hoarding. Find
new homes instead. There is NO substitute for continuing and timely
veterinary care and there never will be. Unless abuses such as
hoarding or quackery occur then there are no villains, simply victims
and people trying to be charitable and kind.
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]
------------------------------------
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:ferrethealth-digest@yahoogroups.com
mailto:ferrethealth-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ferrethealth-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/