Thank you Sheena and Robin for the great advice for our Biff.
 
Tomorrow we are taking Biff and Beige to the vet to get them checked out
since the previous owners didn't get them their shots, and also to get Biff
looked at.  But, our vet is just learning about ferrets, I give him anything
I find so that he can be well knowledged about these things, and I am scared
that our Biff may not be in the best of hands.  So I am writing to anyone
who can help.  Since my last post, we have been noticing things.  One of our
friends has a two month old ferret, and since we built her a cage, we also
built her sister a cage for her month old ferret.  They came by tonight and
she also works at the vet's office, but she is just a receptionist, but also
knows things.  She looked at Biff and she noticed that he was very fragile,
even though he doesn't look it.  He is covered with fur, like he is half
Angola, but he is so brittle.  He eats and eats, and he has a stomach on
him, but is bony on his bottom half and from his shoulders up.  It is like
those commercials you see on T.V.  with the starving children being bones,
but having big bellies.
 
We also watched and noticed that he will begin to eat real good, then all of
a sudden he will start slobbering at the mouth, to the point to where it is
just running off his mouth.  We then noticed something puzzling.  .  .  he
would take a bite of food, vomit it up, then re-eat it.  I know it sounds
gross, but it looks worse.  Our friend said she thinks it might be a head
injury, or maybe he has something wrong to where he can't digest or
something.  He is perfectly normal in every other sense.  The wheezing he
does, we thought that maybe he was congested, but he ain't.  So we thought
that maybe he snores, but he isn't.  Our friend says that maybe he has a
broken nose or something, maybe it is blocked off somehow when he sleeps.
It would kinda make since for we rescued him and Beige from a family that
*the children weren't interested in them anymore,* kinda thinking that it
was the kids *responsibility* instead of getting proper care.
 
We ruled out it being a cold, because Beige was with him all the time, and
he feels *fine.* We noticed on Beige's head a troubling thing, it seems that
his skull was fractured before and healed wrong, like it overlapped.  It
starts above the *between part* of the eyes and goes to the middle of the
top.  He is very scared of being picked up.  When you go to pick him up, he
throws all four legs out, like he feels he is free-falling, and as soon as
he feels your shirt, he *claws* on.  You have to pry him off you, and he
shakes when he is being held.  We think he was dropped too many times, or
maybe thought to be a great toy to the kids.  He is starting to relax,
laying in our arms and sniffing around, but when you make a sudden move, he
grabs on and begins to shake.  He is healthy in every other sense, gaining
weight, laying with the others, ate some hot food tonight (while being
held), even chased Blanco a while, but as soon as he was put back in the
cage, he frantically, sniffed every ferret until he found Biff, then he went
and laid on top of Ba-leigh.  I swear you can look in his big black eyes and
see the horror of his life and you feel like crying and holding him forever.
I thank God that Mama got the two, for I believe they would have been
separated.  Mama practically cries every time she sees them, we know so
little of them, but can sense a lot.  When she holds Beige, or sees Biff
eating or hears him sleeping, you can see the hurt in her eyes.
 
Our vet is learning, but I need some suggestions of what could be wrong with
Biff.  ANYTHING would be better than nothing.  I am sending this to
Ferret-Forum and FML.  I know that I will not get a response from FML
readers till Wednesday, but I am sure Mama will be willing to drive back to
the vet with any information available.  He is willing to know all he can
about ferrets so that he can use all his power to help them.  I am scared he
will not be able to find anything he can notice wrong with Biff.  And
clearly there is something wrong.
 
Again thank you Sheena and Robin, you helped lots, and we will be able to
use your info.  also in the future.
 
Toni & All
Bandit, Brey, Belle, Brock, Blackee, Blanco, Ba-leigh, Beige & Biff
Picayune, Mississippi
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[Posted in FML issue 1829]