Another day, another dollar. Or, Hiko and Anya go to the vet.

So, Thursday these two had their vet appointment (it was also my first time going to Roanoke by myself.  Story in itself, ahahahaha).

Starting with Hiko - he had lost 200g since the last time.  The vet did say that his spleen has grown, and he took aspirates, found some lymphoblasts and has sent those off to be analysed.  Dr. Paul also said that Hiko's kidneys looked dark, but, while it could be indicative of something, he'd also seen dark kidneys be normal.  Tests were sent off for those too.  Bg on the glucometer came back in the 70s, which is iffy for insulinoma, but on the more detailed machine came back in the 80s, which is healthy for a fasting (6 hour) glucose.  He also said that Hiko's prostate was fine, and there were no signs that his adrenal was advancing, so to check back in at the 4-6 month mark to see if Hiko needs another des. implant.  Oh!  And we also found a scab on him!  Someone (coughYogicough) bit him hard enough to break skin >:|  I was annoyed at that revelation, but they don't tiff everyday, and it might have happened over food (they tug of war food, and sometimes when they slip and lunge to reattach to the meat/carcass, they can miss and get the other ferret instead).  It was only one, though, and Hiko can be very solitary and not want to spend time with the others (and vice versa.  Ever since Pixie passed and the initial grief lessened, Yogi, Sian and Hiko haven't been very close.  They're more three ferrets sharing space rather than a business, unfortunately), and he doesn't start or even continue fights/defend himself, but he's not a cowed little boy, either.

Overall, he's doing okay (CBC, urinalysis, etc)!  The vet voted to keep the spleen, because apparently, in the older guys, the spleen acts almost like bone marrow does - the oldie's body gets convinced it needs MORE blood than it has, and the spleen helps to produce it.

Here's hoping the rest of his tests results come back clear.  After that, I can breathe clear :D

Anya - everyone commented on how small she was ... which is unusual, since they're almost always commenting on how big my guys are, hahaha.  Took her weight and started the exam, and the vet found out when I knew the first day - Anya is very squirmy and HATES being scruffed.  We still managed the exam without gassing her.  Dr. Paul estimated her age to be 3 - 4 years, so we decided to put 3 on her record.  What was interesting, when he was checking her ears, she started sneezing and coughing.  He told me that sometimes that can be indicative of an infection.  Because we wanted a closer study of that, and because he found something odd in her abdomen, I decided to agree to an ultrasound (which requires her to be put under).  Results of that: spleen (what caught the vet's attention) was slightly enlarged, and her adrenals were big and swollen (no surprise, my poor hairless girl).  The ear check showed no infection, but did show old scarring, probably from a mite infection, which may have caused her deafness.  Her CBC, fecal, and bg tests all came back clean and clear, and now we have a nice, detailed baseline for her, as well.  She got her 1st of 2 distemper shots (since I don't know her history) while she was under, too.

She also has another appointment in three weeks and will get the second distemper and the des. implant put in, and then hopefully she'll be done for a good long bit.  All in all, I managed to spend $1025 just on this visit (split evenly between the two ferrets), and am planning on spending almost $300 when I take her back.  So, yeah.  Pretty much managed to completely fail at keeping the costs low (important, as I am currently unemployed and STILL have Pixie's debts to pay off, as well as Hiko's earlier bills).

The vet wants to see more weight on her, and with the help of the melatonin (which, along with getting the vaccine, is making her so, so tired.  She slept from the moment we got home yesterday until this evening, only waking to go potty and eat/drink.  Even now, she didn't really want to play - just wandered around, exploring, until she passed out 45 minutes later).

I also went to PetCo (where I got Anya) that night.  Showed them her new shiny bill and basically said FUCK YOU GUYS FOR TREATING ME LIKE I WAS CRAZY.  The cashier was horrified and sympathetic, swore she'd tell the general manager and gave me $5 dollars off my purchase, because oh yeah.  I'm in the process of switching Anya from Marshall's to Wellness Core (cat), Wysong Ferret Epigen 90 and Evo/Innova, so I was there picking up the Wellness, since I have to order everything else. I will eventually get her at least supplemented with raw, but right now I don't want to have to keep feeding her Marshall's for a long time while I work the raw/whole prey diet out.  Like I told my mom, I feel like I'm pouring out death in a bag whenever I fill up her food bowl.  It's not a nice feeling.  Good news is, she's already eaten *some* of the new kibble mixed with her old.  It's not a lot, but it's 258% more progress than I've been making with the raw stuff.  I've only managed to get her addicted to olive oil, ahahahaha.  Forget everything else :C

Um, yeah.  So, that's it for Hiko and Anya's Adventure Productions, more to come next time!