Carla and Magellan,
It sounds like you are discribing regirgitation rather then vomiting.  With
regirgitation the cause is usually megaesophagus.  This is usually a
progressive and serious disease.  In the short term for this disease feeding
him soft food elevated off the ground he may do much better initally, but be
prepared because this is usually a chronic disease that in my experience is
progessive.  To diagnose this disease we take an x-ray immedaitely after
giving the ferret oral barium.  The esophogus will appear abnormally large.
 It can be tough to diagnose early in the course of the disease because
initally the esophogus may not be enlarged but the walls of the esophogus are
too weak to contract properly.  Aspiration pneumonia can be a result of this
disease if the ferret inhales some food into the wind pipe.  There is a
fairly new drug called cisapride that is used on dogs and cats with
megaesophagus with good results.  Although I have not used it in ferrets it
is certainly promising.
If the treatment with pepto, flagyl, amoxi and zantac seems to be working he
could have a  helicobacter infection as well. This treatment is a good one
for this bacteria and ulcers.
Good Luck
Dr Weiss
[log in to unmask]
[Posted in FML issue 1121]