Dear X: There are a couple of points here that bear comment. #1. Giardia is not generally considered to be life-threatening - it may be debilitating in some animals, but does not kill, and not quickly like this. #2. A ferret that never showed diarrhea is really not a suspect for Giardia. #3. Giardia isn't generally transmitted between animals and human directly - usually it is picked up by ingesting contaminated water, such as creek water, lake water, etc. #4. While flagyl is generally considered safe - its wretched taste may indeed cause stress ulcers. Valbazen (albendazole) is considered to be a good treatment in dogs with Giardia, but I am unaware of toxicity studies in ferrets - I tend to doubt however, that these drugs resulted in toxicosis. #5. When the putative cause of death is a microorganism, it would seem obvious that confirmation would require microscopic analysis of the intestine..... as I so often say - GROSS POSTS ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH! As a pathologist now with 12 years experience in ferrets, I know that if you took my scope away, and required me to diagnose simply on gross examination - I would come up empty at least half the time - and it's my area of specialty! I would submit that the gross post from the average clinician without pathology training or ferret experience would yield far less.... With kindest regards, Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP [Posted in FML issue 3716]