Coughing is one of those things which MUST be checked by a vet. It can indicate cardiomyopathy, an infection, ascites from a cause other than cardiomyopathy, or other things which must be either ruled out or treated. Betty, you are right on target. Too many people do NOT know where their money goes and until they learn that and keep track they can't possibly save for ferret medical care. The way to start is with a budget book which does not have goals at the beginning, but just keeps track of categories of spending for the first year, then to have goals thereafter. We have a three ring notebook which has two pages each week. Receipts attach to the top of the page which has our lists of categories and what we spent. The second (facing page) has the subtotals for those categories, our expenditure totals, running cumulative totals, savings, savings rates, goals etc. One example of how unfamiliar people usually are with where there money goes is seen in responses to gasoline prices. Now, we personally don't like big gas hogs for pollution reasons and safety reasons so we have a good mileage exceedingly safe sports car (TT Quatro - one car only here) which we saved for over many years beforehand, but look at how people treat the difference between $1.75 per gallon compared to $2.00 per gallon and then figure out how much that difference is per year total. Now, look at how much is lost to money spent on car loan interest which could have been avoided with some saving up-front. Hmmmm... Also, look at how much people figure they save going with lousy grades of oil or changing oil too infrequently and compare that to the increase in repair expenses resulting from that strategy. Just like the ferret owner you are trying to educate, Betty, anyone who does NOT know WHERE the money is going will NOT know HOW to save. Oh, and the pattern you have seen -- where a person spends like crazy then hits others up for money for essentials is common and one we cope with in two members of the family on each side. They couldn't very well hit-up people for money to have a far larger home than anyone else, or six phone lines, or loads of cable options, or a new saddle, so they spend the money there and then AFTERWARD they cry poor because they "can't afford" life insurance or the kid's educational needs. We have limits on such people though we would never cheat the kids and had to cover some educational needs twice when the parents spent the college money we'd sent for two on vacations), but once such adults get firmly in that pattern we sure have never found a way to put any sense of responsibility into them; what is their's is their's and what is others' should be their's as far as they are concerned. ***What they sorely needed were some years in their late teems and early twenties where they HAD to live modestly (somewhat hand-to-mouth even if it meant random food donations without money donations) and learn responsibility, but instead they always knew they could call home and live exceedingly well on the results.*** It's such a shame when that hurts the children and the ferrets. It is a reoccurring topic here on the FML, though. Not one of those every six months things, but certainly one which comes up repeatedly. (BTW, this is NOT saying that those who need to learn to budget and WANT to learn can't do so, because such people can and do learn the skill all the time: I know some of them (and they know my budget book :-).) The people who like to take from others are a different category completely from responsible people who just need to learn. Economic parasites willingly use people and then don't miss them once the money is gone and those monetary-microbes just don't change. (Sorry about being so blunt; it's borne of decades of knowing the other side and seeing some people badly hurt by these individuals. Since this is her established pattern do NOT expect to change her; she has cared only about people's money instead of the people in the past, remember.) Meeteetse tests out as having moderate insulinoma, but there was something else (a splenic margin problem) noted today which leads to a need for an ultrasound to know what is going on and if surgery should be risked. If she needs her spleen out then the insulinomae will be popped out at the same time if possible. Never wild about having a ferret pushing 8 get operated on and in her case would not do so for a slow-growing insulinoma, but if there also is a contained splenic tumor that changes the situation. Today she is also having kidney and liver panels as well as CBC and the fasting glucose tolerance that has been completed. Ashling will wait a month or two for her adrenal surgery unless there is a change which alters that wait (like a cancerous smell starting, or symptoms being extreme suddenly, or...). The wait is to let the tumor get large enough for easy spotting. She's a PV and is our first early adrenal (She is 3 years and 4 months) in about 18 years. Tried Warp without supplementary A/D and she eats well but doesn't hold her weight well enough. Given her small intestinal damage that is not a major surprise. She'll get some "liver soup" daily along with normal eating. That's all. [Posted in FML issue 3088]