friends... a little background...then the question/s... this is the second time my 2 yr. ols Doug McKay ferret, Uh-Oh has gotten blocked from crystals in his urine...the first time it was an emergency/after hours trip to the vet...he had to be put under anesthesia as it was too painful for him for the vet to be able to unblock him without it... this happened again tonight [last night as you read this]...and for the second time in a week...NO vets were available...either out of town or did not do ferrets...[and we have 3 vets...]...we called every vet in the phone book this time as it again was too painful to Uh-Oh for tommy to unblock him...[he learned what to do by watching and talking to our vet last time...] we finally tracked a vet down...one we did not know...said they would take him on an emergency basis...so when i was changing my clothes to go, tommy was able to get Uh-Oh to go...[expressing his bladder enough to dislodge the crystals that were blocking him]...he went a good bit and i could feel that his bladder was empty...so we called and cancelled the vet...we will get the antibiotics tomorrow...for tonight i gave him some amoxy-drops... my questions are 2... 1) what is the best antibiotic for this...i assume one is necessary as that is what the vet prescribed last time... and 2) more importantly...does anyone know what CAUSES the crystals?.. am i doing something wrong?...is it just in his make-up?...is it dietary?... if it's any of these reasons...why do not more of my kids get it?...i have only had 2...Uh-Oh and Rascal...and both of them in the last couple months... thanks for any help...it tears me apart for any of my babies to hurt... and it seems anymore...i can never get a vet when i need one...i have great vets...they just don't seem to be available when i need one...[i know they have lives to..and have places to go and other patients to see...but that is little comfort at the time to a mommy whose kid is in bad shape...:)] thanks again... kat ===== KITY=^..^=KAT and the Kollektive [17] http://www.geocities.com/ferretlover97 In Memory of...White Russian...who lost his fight with ADV on May 8, 2002 Missing pieces of my heart...Marcel, LittleWhiteGirl, Narmy, OldGuy, D'weezle, Pye, Sandi, Jack, and the biggest pieces of my heart...Sonny, Charlie and Geezer! ...Keeping in memory...Dweezil, Opie and Tunees... My ferret Afghans! http://www.geocities.com/crochetkat/ferret Don't cry because it is over, smile because it happened. Think about it! [Posted in FML issue 3840]