Exotic Vets in Baton Rouge Louisianna?

[HurricaneKatt]

I hope it's okay to post this here. I'm hoping someone here can point me towards an Experienced, Ferret-Knowledgeable vet in the Baton Rouge area. I have a friend whose ferret is in severe need of a skilled vet. The vet she has been seeing doesn't seem to really KNOW ferrets. *headdesk* Anyways, there's more details below if anyone is interested, but all I need is some suggestions for places to call with decent exotic vets in her area. Thanks!

I have a friend who has a ferret who has been having hind-end weakness and today had a seizure. She took the ferret into the vet for hind end weakness a few weeks ago thinking it may be insulinoma, but he (the ferret) had a high resting BG. The vet said keep an eye on him. Fast forward to today, he had been doing mildly worse over the last weeks, and then seemed to be deteriorating over the last 2 days or so. Today he had a seizure and was rushed into the vet. The symptoms really seem to point to something neurological, spine damage, possibly even something cardiac related (maybe a spinal thrombosis). The vet didn't do a neuro exam despite my friend saying she was concerned about a possible neuro problem, claiming to not have the skills or equipment (as another vet I know personally pointed out, a basic neuro exam requires only hands and a hemostat). The vet sent her home with a diagnosis of insulinoma - despite repeated blood glucose tests of 115-120. The ferret had eaten 15 min before the seizure and had a good BG at the vet (I believe it was 120). Insulinoma would typically be indicated by a BG of 70 or below! My friend is scared and frustrated and her vet doesn't seem to know what she's doing when it comes to ferrets. I told all of the symptoms and showed a video of the ferret walking to a vet that I know and she said she does not think it's insulinoma (BG way too high), she would want to do a neuro exam and full blood work, as well as a possible ultrasound. She also said that just because a vet calls themselves a ferret vet doesn't mean they are actually knowledgeable about ferrets, it just means they are willing to see ferrets and that she has worked with a lot of "exotics" vets who didn't know what they were doing...

I feel so bad, I wish I could fly my friend up here as we have some really good exotics doctors. Anyways, not looking for medical advice, I know that's not allowed. I'm just hoping that someone might know of some better vets my friend could call. She's trying a few places in the morning, but I know there's a pretty big network of people here so I'm hoping someone might have some suggestions as to where else she could call.

Thanks!

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[Psorophoraferox]

This was my preferred exotics hospital when I lived in BR:
http://www.allpetshospital.com

Granted, I haven't lived there for 6ish years, but from the look of their website's services listed, they've seem to have kept up with recent developments in veterinary medicine. Dr. McMullan was the vet I usually saw.

And of course there's the vet school hospital.

 

[HurricaneKatt]

Thank you! I will pass the info on!

 

[lsucouple]

I would definately take it to the VTH at LSU. They have the most experience in exotics in the city by far. It's going to be more expensive but worth it.

 

[hstock]

All Pets Hospital is a great place. Dr. McMullan and Dr. Braden will both see exotic patients. Dr. McMullan is very knowledgeable and seems to keep up with current medicine and is probably the coolest guy ever and Dr. Braden is always very detail oriented and will go out of her way to help to you understand what she is thinking.