I'm beginning to believe that when it rains, it pours....so far, that damn cloud has been here for a couple of weeks. <sigh> Emily is our houseferret - and she takes her responsibility very seriously -- while out on 'patrol', she diligently searches out such sordid characters as bed bugs, dust bunnies and other nefarious creatures while keeping her humans safe. If you aren't sleeping deeply, you will hear her get off the bed (she usually sleeps under the covers, next to my feet), walk the condo, use the litterpan and then come back to bed. *Especially* if I have the heating pad on...anyway - I got up to get some water about 11:30pm - and sure enough, here is my escort, following me into the kitchen. Stands on my feet while I get my drink, gets a lick or two of cold water, turns and waits for me to follow her back to the bedroom. I get in, and watch her climb up (never make the mistake of picking her up and putting her there -- she's so independent, she will jump down and then climb up), snuggle under the blanket and off to sleep she goes. About 10 minutes later, I hear panting - fast and labored. Its Miss Em. I retrieve her and find that she is flat-ferret, breathing heavily and drooling. Oh, damn. By the time I get into the kitchen, shes completely unresponsive - no gag reflex, touching her eye does nothing, and her jaws are locked. I start rubbing karo syrup on her gums -- and then I wait. Two minutes, five minutes -- did I see her swallow? No, but she's trying. Wait some more - ten minutes and she's definitely swallowing. By this time, the pred tablet is melted and I have a syringe of karo mixed. I give both very carefully and is gratified to see that she is swallowing - but still doing the thousand yard stare. It took more than 30 minutes before she truly came out of the seizure - she scared the heck out of my with her rythmic twitching - and it was a doozy, for sure. She's already been and come back from the vet - her BG this morning was 52. The usual course of medication has been prescribed. <sigh> But Emily has already beaten the odds - she was already supposed to be dead - she was released to me in September 1998 instead of being euthanized, because her owner couldn't handle the ups/downs of her gastrointestinal problems and thought she was in pain. I convinced her that I would never allow Miss Em any pain, and that I could make her well. Adrenal surgery that November showed not only bilateral, but that she had three small hairballs in her tummy. She's hanging in there -- and will be seven in November...when she goes, I will miss my little houseferret very much. Lisa Leidig, Head Ferret The Ferret Haven "By-the-Sea" http: www.ferrethaven.org Want to help The Ferret Haven By-the-Sea? Register at iGive.com by cutting and pasting this link: http://www.iGive.com/html/ssi.cfm?CID=1236&MID=854 [Posted in FML issue 3048]