I was quickly walking down the hallway to see who was squealing in the back bedroom with my hands full of soiled papers so I couldn't see down when Scooby came running from behind me and we both tried to step in the same spot, his body on bottom my foot on top.... when I stepped down my foot landed solidly on the bottom portion of his ribs and top of the abdomen, rolled him over but with quite a bit of force... I dropped the papers and he ran into the tube and wouldn't come out. I shook the tube gently (corrugated black drain tubing) and he hung on so I waited. When he came out a couple minutes later I grabbed him and checked first his ribs then abdomen for tenderness with no pain response but his ribs on the left side felt loose, not individually but that entire section, so I put him down and he walked on the futon, jumped down and walked to another tube, looked in but went around to the tv stand. I got up to pick him up and he quickly scooted under the stand and poked his head out. I could tell he was hurt even though he was moving around and there wasn't blood. I called our vet and told the emergency receptionist to alert the doctors that I was on my way. I got dressed grabbed Scooby and off we went to the vets. He rummaged around in the cage quite a bit, looked out the window then settled down about the time we pulled in to Topeka (1 hour later). When we got to the clinic Larry was already in surgery and was asked if I wanted to leave him and come back later. I surprised her by very pointedly saying No I'll wait. She was quite taken aback. So I waited for 10 minutes till Travis came in and he took us back. If Scooby had been unconscious or in vocal pain I wouldn't have hesitated to go back and tell Larry myself, but he wasn't so I waited. Travis examined Scooby and felt several little vertebrae out of place coming from the left side of the ribs. He put them back in then did a complete physical on the upper and lower body. Then he took xrays. What he found is that there was obvious edema in the left lung, minor, but it was there, no broken ribs, bottom 2 ribs which are very loose on the bottom section had been stretched but not broken. Scooby was given a lasix and dexamethasone injection and he should be fine, sore but fine... He slept on the ride back and went to his bed when we got home. He hasn't moved around a lot for a couple days but prognosis is good and he's eating. I gave him another injection of lasix and dexamethasone last night, as instructed. This morning when I picked him up to check on him he whined. I held him close to listen to his lungs before getting the stethoscope to listen. I didn't hear anything but it is difficult to hear fluid in their tiny lungs. I put him down and off he went. I was getting ready to take him back to our vets when I had to do a double-take. Scooby was getting Nibbles and not very gently either. Then he was in and out of the tubes in a fussy way. When I stood up he followed me everywhere, circling me when I stopped and walking between my feet when I walked. He wasn't hyper or agitated. Just being Scooby. The accident happened on Tuesday so I'm guessing the whine was from soreness in his rib area. I should hear back from our vets later today because I want to ask if they want me to bring him in for another x-ray. Better to be safe. I truly believe that taking Scooby to the vet as soon as I could get there after the accident saved him a lot of pain and possibly a more serious injury (from the vertebrae being out and edema in his left lung). What a frightening experience for both of us. And painful too. I sprained my foot when I tried to rock my foot forward so I wouldn't put all my weight on him. I'd rather have broken my foot than cause him any harm... Hugs to all. tle Troy Lynn Eckart Ferret Family Services http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~sprite/ffs.html http://www.geocities.com/Petsburgh/Haven/5481/ Please sign up to support our charity http://www.iGive.com/html/ssi.cfm?cid=46&mid=58395 [Posted in FML issue 3407]