I've been subscribing to the FML for about a year now and this my first posting. I'm hoping somebody may be able to help with a problem - sorry if the information is somewhat incomplete, but this concerns a ferret belonging to a friend of mine so I don't have the complet medical history. Bonny is a 2 year old spayed jill with a healthy weight of about 750 g. Early this year she became very feverish with the usual associated loss of appetite etc. and went down quite rapidly to around 500g. A blood sample was done, she was given the usual medication and things improved. The blood values showed, however, that something wasn't quite right, and a further check -up showed that something in the abdominal region was very enlarged. Surgery followed and the spleen proved to be about 4 times as large as normal. It was removed and about 10 days later she was raring to go - appetite back to normal, playing etc., her weight went back up to about 600g. Then she took a turn for the worse; fever, weight loss etc. Several types of antibiotics were prescribed, none of them worked. She is now back to around 500g and is extremely lethargic. However, when she is awake then she eats and drinks continually - just doesn't gain any weight. A recent blood test showed an extremely low haemoglobin value (her owner doesn't know the exact value) and her immune system is not functioning properly (I believe this is common problem after removal of the spleen, which governs the lymphatic system). We live in Germany and there is very little medical ferret literature available. I have most of the american and english books including Hillyer / Quesenbury, and it would seem that maybe a blood transfusion might be Bonny's best chance. Does anyone have experience of this, or perhaps another suggestion as to how we can help her as soon as possible? As the antibiotics weren't helping she stopped getting them - just seems to be further, unnecessary stress for this already very weak animal. If anyone can help but needs more specific information, I will try and get it for you. Many thanks, Max [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 3487]