Sunny, my little six year old whose blood wouldn't clot following an insulinoma surgery, is doing extremely well. To briefly recap, she had one transfusion and another surgery on Tuesday to pack her abdominal cavity with sterile gauze soaked in saline in order to apply pressure to stop the bleeding from the inside. After the transfusion and second surgery, her PCV began to rise slowly as the bleeding was stopped. She was kept pretty sedated and needed to be force fed and kept warm with external heat sources on Wed and Thurs. Her temp was as low as 96 degrees. By Friday morning, she was much perkier and had warmed up a bit but was still below 100. A third surgery was done to remove the gauze packing, and she is infinitely better now. Only a few hours after that surgery, her temp is up to 101, and she is pretty bright and active. I only have to force the first bite of Bob C's chicken gravy on her, and then she'll eat it herself if I hold her and the dish. Anyway, my vet thinks she's turned the corner and will be fine. Big thanks for the supportive messages and for ideas on helping her recover. Here's what I've learned, in case anyone might be interested... [disclaimer: I'm not a vet.] This kind of bleeding problem doesn't seem to be very common, but it is *devastating* when it happens. Seems to happen more with older ferrets. I heard from five people who had strikingly similar cases (I know, sample size way too small to say very much), and only two of those fuzzies made it. All were under the care of excellent vets. Transfusions, Vitamins B and K injections, pressure bandages, and this gauze packing surgery if there's time seem to be key; it is a very difficult situation. Sunny was in really good shape before the surgery (healthy weight, only really mild insulinoma, no other serious health problems), and I think this plus the aggressive treatment helped her pull through. We came very close to losing her... tears for those who didn't make it... this is such a frightening problem... Blessings and warm thoughts to all, -Pam S. [Posted in FML issue 2993]