Ferret Aid 2006

I was lucky enough to get to go to Ferret Aid 2006 this past weekend in Mississauga, Ontario. It was absolutely amazing! I'd never been to an actual conference before, just ferret shows, so this was a totally new experience for me. I got to hear some amazing speakers that are well known in the ferret community, including Dr. Bruce Williams, Dr. Jerry Murray, Bob Church, Dr. Karen Purcell and others. Subjects spoken about included insulinoma, new adrenal surgical techniques, ADV, behavioral problems, ferret enrichment and so many more. Saturday night there was a "speaker dinner" where we all got to sit with one of the speakers, and I got to sit with Dr. Williams and pick his brain! It was fascinating. I have good vets for my fuzzies, but it was really nice to get the opinion of vets who are so well known and respected in the fuzzy world. They've definitely given me some ideas on how to change the medical care I give to my ferrets in the future.

I also got to see a black footed ferret!! Travis Livieri works in the effort to successfully bring back the black footed ferret (they are endangered), and he had one brought over from the Toronto Zoo. It was adorable!!

Of course, I don't have pictures of any of this, since I forgot my digital camera!! I did take some pics with a disposable camera though, so hopefully I'll have the developed and scanned in soon.



This tip of the day comes straight from the advice I got from Dr. Williams! While ulcers can be caused by an overabundance of helicobacter, it isn't always. Dr. Williams recommends treating the ulcers first, as heliobacter isn't a life threatening disease and ulcers can be. This means starting only with Carafate, and waiting to use the Amoxi and Biaxin (antibiotics). The reason for this is that the antibiotics can be very stressful for the ferrets, and it's best to eliminate all sources of stress for a ferret with gastric ulcers.

Tags

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ferret, ferrets, Insulinoma, Adrenal Disease, Ferret Aid 2006, Adrenal Surgery, Bob Church, Dr. Bruce Williams, Ferret Enrichment, Dr. Jerry Murray, Dr. Karen Purcell, ADV