The Number One Problem For Check-Ups
AUSTRALIA, PETS & ANIMALS, VET, WESTERN AUSTRALIA | HEALTHY | OCTOBER 25, 2019
(I have three ferrets, all due for a checkup. First ferret, fine but getting old. Second ferret, perfect health. When the vet picks up the third and starts feeling his little fuzzy abdomen, his face falls.)
Vet: “Hmm. Have you noticed that he’s got quite a large lump here? In his abdomen?”
Me: “No, I had no idea.”
Vet: “Okay. Hm. So, it seems very close to his prostate, maybe even on his prostate, so that’s quite worrying. It’s really large; are you sure you haven’t felt it before?”
Me: *starting to freak out a little bit* “No, definitely not.”
Vet: “Okay, well, I’m going to take him out the back and we’ll do a little ultrasound. Don’t panic; there’s a good chance it could be something benign, and if it isn’t, we have options, okay? I’ll be back in a minute.”
(I sit in the consulting room for ten minutes, wringing my hands, wondering if one of my pets has cancerous tumours and how I couldn’t have noticed. The vet comes back, still holding my ferret.)
Vet: *putting my ferret down on the examination table* “Okay, so, we did an ultrasound, and we’re at a little bit of a loss. It doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen, so we’re going to have to either biopsy or…”
(He trails off, as my ferret has toddled over to the sink and started urinating. It goes on for a very long time.)
Me: “Oh, geez, I’m sorry! He’s never done that before.”
Vet: “Well, better there than on the table, right?”
(He pauses, realisation dawning on him. He picks up my ferret once he’s finished his business, and feels the abdomen again.)
Vet: “So. Uh. This is a little awkward, but good news! He doesn’t have a tumour.”
(It turns out, my little boy was too polite to pee on a person or on the examination table, even while people were touching and scanning his large and very full bladder. They didn’t charge me for the ultrasound.)
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