Well, as you can tell from the subject heading, the vet, under my urging,
opted for exploratory surgery.  And yes, she found a blockage-- one of those
little felt thingies that serves as feet for computers, stereos, etc, about
a cm in diameter, so Amelia was completely stoppered up.  Since she's so
weak, she's not out of the woods yet, but after the surgery I held her to
warm her, and once she'd stopped shivering she went into normal sleep.
After a couple hours she jumped up with that "I have to use the litterbox
now" look, and she pooped pretty copiously.  The vet was very pleased by
this.  Overall, Amelia's condition looks good, after surgery her lips and
nose were pink instead of the dull grey they were on Sunday.  The lining of
her intestine looked red and irritated, which I believe is why the vet said
no food for 24 hours, but her pooping proved that everything seems to work.
In general she seemed much more with it after surgery-- tired, but it looked
like regenerative sleep to me, not the semi-comatose state she was in
before.  That thing in her tummy must have hurt.
 
I owe all of the people who wrote and called me a huge debt of gratitude.
My vet is fairly ferret-knowledgable, but thought there would be gas bubbles
even if she couldn't see the object itself in the x-ray.  Still, on my
urging, she was willing to do the surgery, provided I understood the risks.
BIG, as soon as I heard from you on Sunday night, I left a message on the
vet's machine suggesting that we do the surgery.  The calls and email really
helped alot for me, and absolutely helped for Amelia-- you guys probably
saved her life.  I will keep everybody posted on how she's doing-- the techs
will call me if there's any change for the worse, and I'll talk to the vet
again in the morning.
 
Thank you all again from the bottom of our hearts--
Regina and Amelia
and oh yeah, Cully actually seems to miss her too
[Posted in FML issue 1569]