I know I haven't posted in at least forever. We have an urgent problem with one of our ferrets, Amadeo, our sweet year-old cinnamon. Two nights ago he started breathing shallowly and rapidly. Sudden onset, although he had looked under the weather for a week or so and we were planning on bringing him in for a checkup. We rushed him to our vet in the morning and she checked him out. Did X-rays and from what I could see he's breathing with less than 25% of his lungs. More like 10%. The rest was opaque, and, we assume, fluid. She got a bit of fluid out and it had some bacteria in it and no tumor cells, so we cautiously decided to treat this like a bacterial infection instead of like lymphoma. As of yesterday, we thought we weren't going to be bringing Deo home alive... but he was still too much alive for us to decide to put him to sleep. (He ripped up a box of tissues on the exam table.) So we decided to do a CBC and start some antibiotics, and do round-the-clock feedings and forced fluids. He had SC fluids, but our vet didn't want to put too much into him for fear of putting too much pressure on his lungs. It has now been 36 hours since his first doses of his antibiotics, which, for now, are Amoxicillin and Baytril. We've been pretty rigorous about force feedings; he'll take Ferretvite willingly and duck soup unwillingly (haven't thawed the chicken gravy yet to try that). He's gotten about 3 tsp of Ferretvite today and about 50cc of thin duck soup. He's been getting at least 10cc of water an hour. He's had a couple of stools and they're normal considering his diet. Urine normal as well. In fact, he seems perfectly healthy, if a bit thin, except that he can't breathe. The CBC came back and his white blood cells were above 25,000. Everything else was normal. We're assuming a bacterial infection for now, and hoping very much there's no tumor as well. So we're continuing antibiotics and trying to keep his strength up. This morning, his breathing was more labored; this evening, it seems less so. We brought him into the ferret-room for a visit and he went through a tube, checked his food and water dishes, sniffed noses with everyone, and curled up with one of his buddies. It was more energy than he's shown all along. I'm trying very hard not to hope. Still, he looks *much* better than he did 12 hours ago; he's breathing more easily, his eyes are brighter, and he has more energy. I know that if there's a tumor causing all this, then all the good energy in the world won't help. Still, it's hard not to hope, when it took two of us to hold him still to take his meds this evening, and I did it by myself yesterday. Does anyone out there have any stories to tell of similar situations? Any avenues we haven't explored? I think our vet was surprised when we decided we wanted to know what was wrong and we wanted to do everything we could, even if it wouldn't help. We're going in tomorrow for more SC fluids and probably a bit of oxygen, and more Baytril. (Stuff tastes awful; I'm going to have them inject his AM dose so I don't have to give it to him by mouth.) Suggestions would be welcome. We're focusing right now on keeping him stable for long enough to figure out more about what's wrong and what works. And I just wrote a $230 check off an empty account. They're holding it until Friday for me, since that's when I get paid. Rent? What's rent? :-) I think they were surprised when I didn't even blink. We were there more than an hour, and ran a million tests, and our vet was right with Amadeo the whole time. I thought the bill was more than reasonable. And I know I'll be writing more checks soon, starting tomorrow. We didn't even hesitate, though; how could we? *This is not intended to be a thinly disguised plea for money.* My vets are great. Dr. Courtney kept running back and forth with Deo so he could spend as much time with us and as little time with strangers as possible. I don't think he cared; he's been poked and prodded by strangers all his life. Still, the thought definitely counted. :-) Any input would be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to mail me privately. I apologize for the length of this; I haven't slept in a few days and I seem to be rambling. Jen and the Crazy Business [Posted in FML issue 2984]