No easy answer for that; it will depend on the nature and the location of the break. Some locations on a limb and some on any given bone heal better than others. Some locations will leave a limb shorter than the rest. Some types of breaks require very difficult and expensive work, others require just rest. Only way for you to tell will be to get a vet exam and x-rays up-front. Ear: Again, something that a vet needs to access, and pathology and removal may be important, depending on cause. ECE: you might as well get info from the person who first identified the the coronavirus that causes it and has been involved in continuing research of it: http://www.afip.org/ferrets/ECE/ECE.html It's being to seem like there may be a lot of new people. The last time I posted the resource list was in was 12/18, or 12/19, or 12/20 (with a slightly different version on 12/10). Since it has been too soon for re-post of resources go to http://listserv.cuny.edu/archives/ferret-search.html , go to the Dec. 2001 section, then sort by poster or date, or check in the FHL files and bookmarks (See next paragraph.). Insulinoma: 6 and 1/2 is not too old unless there are counter-indicating health factors, or the vet simply is too unused to ferrets to feel safe doing the op. You'll find a lot of hard info in the resource list mentioned in the last paragraph. Are you in an ares where there may be a ferret specialist without your knowing it? You can find vet lists at http://miamiferret.org/fhc and also in the BOTH the recommended vets file and the SOS file at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list/ Dog food: It also lacks enough taurine so can cause premature blindness and very possibly also heart damage if it takes the place of too much of the right foods. Dog food is great as a treat, though, in SMALL amounts, and as such is safer than may of the carbohydrate and non-meat treats given. >Over the years have heard about a ferret which chitt and chats all the >time... We might have to find her a new home since she won't introduce >to our tribe after 2 months. Sounds deaf or partly deaf, which is not unusual in some fancies -- downright common in some types of fancies. If you go to the paragraph in which I mention the resource list and search that out you will find several that include help for figuring out deaf ferrets. They work out wonderfully if the people match their behaviors to the ferrets' needs. >His prostate was huge (probably cancerous) and had apparently been >putting pressure on his bladder--which they suspected had ruptured... >They did what they could to stabilize him in preparation for an operation >to remove the prostate but it was too late.... We had one who was just saved with sudden enlargement ourselves. The single exceedingly most common cause of prostate enlargement in ferrets is adrenal disease (with or without other symptoms). Prostates are pretty well hell to get to in a ferret, but when the trouble is caused by adrenal growths removing the adrenal that is up reduces the prostate rapidly. There are also medical options which vet Jerry Murray has discussed on the FHL and in FHL cross-posts in the FML archives. [Posted in FML issue 3655]