Ferret Vet ZIP Code Lookup FAQ
- Why did you do this when there are already so many ferret vet lists available?
Good question! I agree that needless duplication is bad. I was already maintaining one of these lists, namely, the one for the Ferret Health List. That's the data I used to start this project, and the browsable list of ferret vets is still a list sorted by state. When trying to locate a vet for someone with a sick ferret, I was always dragging out atlases and looking at online things like Mapquest and MapsOnUs to see who might be closest. I usually don't have a good geographic sense of where people are, even in major cities, let alone smaller towns. I noticed that sometimes the closest vets were even in another state. It simply took a long time to do decent referrals with lists organized by state.
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- How can I add my vet? Or, My vet moved, how can I change their info?
You can add your vet by e-mailing Pam Sessoms at pam_sessoms@unc.edu. Don't panic if you don't hear back instantly; sometimes I batch these requests every few days. If you don't hear back in a week, you might write again, because your mail might have gotten lost in my perpetually-full mailbox. At this time, there is no really cool gizmo to let you add your own, although that might happen later. Much later.
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- I want to add a vet, but I don't know the full
address and everything...
That's OK, just send me what you have. If you have the vet's name and at
least a phone number with area code and/or city and state, I can probably
find the missing parts. Of course, it's easier if you can send me a
complete entry, but don't let lack of complete contact information stop
you from sending something in.
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-
Will this be updated when ZIP codes are added and boundaries
changed?
The database currently has about 43,000 ZIP codes
and
should be current as of March 2006. The US Postal
Service charges a fee for its complete dataset with frequent
updates. At this time, we feel that for our purposes, we don't need to
pay to keep the zip code data absolutely up-to-date.
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- How can I find a ZIP code?
The US Postal Service has a free ZIP Code Lookup tool
on its website. Note that this page defaults to city and state, but if
you also have a street address, you can do a more accurate search by
changing to Search By Address on the USPS site.
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- What if I want to search by city and state and get results listed by distance?
Then you are pretty much out of luck, regarding this tool. Once again,
you can browse the data by state, but no search
mechanism by city is planned. Or you can find a ZIP code for the city, and then search by ZIP code,
but that was another question.
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- Are you implying that the best vet is always the closest?
Of course not. My absolutely favorite ferret vet is a 2 hour drive, with a handful of other fine ferret vets who also made this list somewhat closer. I choose to make the longer trip. However, when referring others to vets, especially if they have a really sick ferret, being able to give them a list sorted by distance is a good start.
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- This just isn't working for me. Where are those other lists?
Other fine ferret vet lists can be found in the International Ferret Congress' List of Critical Ferret References. If all else fails, check out the SOS Shelter List. Ferret shelters tend to give their vets lots of good experience, and most of the SOS listings have vet names and addresses with the shelters. The list is alphabetical by state and is in a series of pages, so be sure to scroll to the bottom to be sure you are not missing a page.
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- I've looked everywhere, and nothing! What if no one is anywhere near me?
Well, if all of the lists have failed, the next best thing to do is
start asking around. A good place to start is the Ferret Health
List. Another good place is the Ferret Mailing List, or FML (scroll to the bottom for instructions on subscribing). When you find someone you like, please come back here and add your vet.
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- This thing is messed up! The distances aren't right for me for vets in my area!
ZIP codes are admittedly not the most technically correct way to figure out distances between two places. Results for areas that are fairly close to each other are more likely to seem off. ZIP code boundaries can be strangely-shaped, long and skinny things, and the ZIP code locator uses the geographic center of the ZIP code's area to provide one latitude and longitude coordinate for that entire zip code. The precise latitude and longitude coordinates for someone's street address would be most accurate, but most people don't know their precise Lat/Long just off-hand. However, they do tend to know a ZIP code. Also, ZIP codes are easy to find if a town name is given, so it's not hard to help people looking for ferret vets if they will just give you their home town and state.
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- Nope, it's really broken. How do I report a bug?
Wait! One more thing. If you are using Internet Explorer, please try emptying your browser's cache (usually this is under the Tools menu, then Internet Options, then Delete Temporary Internet Files). If it still doesn't work, yell at Pam Sessoms at pam_sessoms@unc.edu. Please tell me which browser you were using. Then I will yell at Eric, who actually wrote the brains of this thing. :)
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Back to the main Ferret Vet ZIP Code Lookup page
Page by Pam Sessoms. I can be reached at pam_sessoms@unc.edu. Last updated
7 February 2007.