I don't know if this will help at all, but I once had a big-tummy problem
with my little girl.
 
A couple of months after we got her (she was about 6 months old) we noticed
how full and round her belly was in comparison to her tiny little body.
Her big brother's tummy wasn't nearly that large, so we paid close
attention to her for the next few days.  She always ate and pooped just
fine.  In fact, she had a HUGE appetite.  We just assumed she was a little
piggy and didn't worry too much about it.  Her energy was always super high
and she never acted like she was in any pain.  Well, the tummy just kept
getting bigger and bigger.  So I took her to the vet and he said that she
was fine.  That she just had a big belly and there was nothing wrong, that
she would eventually grow into it.  So, I believed him and took her home.
Over the next couple of months her behavior, eating habits, play time
energy, pooping, etc... never, ever changed one bit.  But that tummy just
grew and grew.  IT WAS HUGE!  I wish I had pictures to post... really,
it was freakish.  There she was, this cute, petit fuzzy thing with this
monstrous belly!
 
Finally I had enough.  I took her back to the vet and said that I just KNEW
this was NOT NORMAL.  The vet poked around and decided that yes, something
wasn't right (duh) and that they had to do surgery to take out whatever
it was that was causing the huge tummy.  I was extremely freaked out and
scared because she was so little, but I didn't want whatever it was to
grow until it killed her.  So 2 days later she went into surgery.
 
What they pulled out of her was the most freakish thing we had ever seen!!
The minute I walked in to the office on the day to pick her up, everyone
dropped what they were doing and ushered me back with "you have got to SEE
this!"  They pulled a tumor out of my little baby that was as big as a
large grapefruit!!  It was amazing.  The vet took pictures of it and had
them hanging on the wall, he was so amazed by it.  It was huge!  It was
this big, pink, water-balloon type thing.  And it was so big!!!
 
And then there was my little baby, about 3x smaller now, just sitting
there, looking up at everyone like "hey what's the big deal?" I could
barely recognize her.
 
The doc said that the tumor had been growing and pressing on the stomach,
making the stomach smaller, and smaller.  And it had also taken over/killed
off one of her kidneys.  So she only operates on one kidney now.  But the
lab said that the tumor was safe and wasn't cancerous or anything.  The
vet was never sure as to what really caused it in the first place.
 
All I know is that it's a year later and my baby is happy and healthy.  (if
you thought she was high-energy before, you should've seen her ZOOM!  when
she got that thing out of her!)
 
She's been fine ever since.  She eats and poops just fine, though sometimes
I wonder if she should be on a special diet because of the one-kidney
thing.  Any suggestions out there from anyone who has dealt with a ferret
with only one kidney before?
 
She is my miracle baby.  She never ceases to amaze me.
 
Anyway, sorry for such a long post.  I guess the advice I would give anyone
with a ferret with an unusually large tummy would be to take her to a vet.
Ask questions and be persistent.  You never know what could be in there.
 
Hope you baby gets better.
 
dani
[Posted in FML issue 3475]