I'm wondering if anyone can help us diagnose what happened to our pet
ferret Roman.
 
We went to San Francisco over Christmas, and got our boys (Roman and Bart)
back from the babysitter yesterday.  In addition to fleas (which they
didn't have before the trip), our 6 year old male, Roman had a hugely
swollen abdomen.
 
Roman had been slowing down over the past 6 months... to the point where
he really didn't come out of his box much.  The babysitter said everything
was fine a day ago when he last got out.  When I took him out of his box
last night upon arriving home, his upper body was very very thin and his
abdomen appeared to be full of fluid and was swollen many times normal
size.
 
Roman seemed calm and did not appear to be in pain, but it was obvious
something was **VERY** wrong.  The emergency vet didn't really have an
idea what specifically was wrong with him, so to avoid any possible pain
he might begin to feel, and knowing that his health had been going down
hill for the past 6 months, we had him put to sleep last night.  Not an
easy thing to do, but we think the right thing to do.
 
For future knowledge, we would appreciate any replies which might help
explain what might have happened to him.  A picture of him (after he died)
can be found at: http://www.u2fdb.com/other/roman/roman.jpg
It is somewhat hard to tell from this picture, but his abdomen was about 4
times normal size.
 
Dan Eliot
[Posted in FML issue 3648]