Ashley, first of all you need to have a clearer idea of what is going
on: ultrasound, CBC plus chemistry panel, etc. -- possibly exploratory
surgery.
 
It sounds like either your vet or you may be leery of such testing, but
until you know what is going on you don't know how to precede.
 
In case, you need to ask a vet who is more used to ferrets there are a
number of ways to find one.  If you go to http://www.ferretcongress.org
and look at the assortment of ferret vet listings since they vary quite
a bit.
 
I don't know where you are but we use Joe Martins at the Bellemead Animal
Hospital in NJ.  (Anyone who goes to Joe can tell him you read about him
here! LOL!)  He is a very loving and concerned vet who adores ferrets
and has done some very delicate surgeries for us.  He had extra months of
ferret-surgery-specific hands-on training from Hanan Caine before Hanan
moved to Massachusetts and Hanan was the best ferret surgeon we've ever
found in almost 21 years with ferrets.  We go to Joe because he is a
cracker-jack ferret vet who likes to learn, is willing to call in
consultants, and is just plain a very, very good person.
 
While you are at the International Ferret Congress URL above also look in
the Ferret Health List Archives for kidney and ascites info, and think
about asking for more info at the FHL.
 
  ----
Treva and Phyllis, find out who the ecology prof and possibly also the
student at Stony Brook mentioned by PETA was or supposedly was; I know
a lot of folks there and may well be able to learn if that is a true
statement about that ferret video.  If they won't give at least one of
the names that makes the claim less believable (and we already know what
that can mean...).
 
When I was at Stony Brook the controls there to prevent animal abuse were
incredibly tight and violators were removed as profs or students -- it
was a one-way ticket to being kicked out no matter who you were.  Knowing
that Peta has lied before I think that confirmation is needed before this
statement can be at all believed.
 
I have already written to two people I know in that same department and
who have been there for over 20 years so if it happened they will know
about it, and if it really was investigated then it will be public so
they will be able to talk about it.  Hopefully, neither is away on a
study right now.  There are others still there who I know or knew to whom
I could write but I think that these two may be the best ones for now.
If it is true then we do know from the PETA statement you received that
the filmers were investigated and made to suffer as a result.
[Posted in FML issue 4077]