For cardiomyopathy info: http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc The FHL, FHL archives and FHL sections: http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org/ To read details about the sonic weasel site: http://www.smartgroups.com/message/readmessage.cfm?gid=1423922&messageid=345 A blood chemistry panel and ultrasound make sense at this point. For vets' info on treating fleas use the parasites file in: http://www.smartgroups.com/vault/ferrethealth Yes, Mark, some vascillate a bit and that can make control with meds harder. Glad to hear the dose got updated and that the a surgical consultation is set. Best of luck! Oh, It just hit me: go to the FHL archives I mention above and check into the machines mentioned for home testing of glucose levels in case you little one may benefit from one. We've got ot get one, too, but it turns out that they are affordable and can be found at any drug store. There was one which was greatly preferred by those who have had to use them but off hand I can't recall which one. >Crook, my 3 months male ferret is breathing very heavily. after he plays >a while (and boy he plays a lot) he starts to make loud breathing noises >(I can hear him coming behind me, even without my hearing aids) We took >him to the vet, who listened to his lungs, and said that his lungs are >clear. Get a chest x-ray. We have had a ferret with pneumonia and pleurosy who sounded clear but would have soon died without treatment. More common is ascites/edema. The most commoon cause of this is cardiomyopathy (See above.) followed by liver or kidney disease, sometimes a malignancy, or other cause >im using neeps superior choice right now but ive been wondering if tottle >ferret has improved yet. thanks It's fine; they found the problem and corrected it. Heck, multiple ferret food makers have been in this position. The responsible ones, like Totally Ferret, track it down and replace bad foods. The irresponsible ones don't own up. I can recall three or four different food makers which had to track down problems at times and acted responsibly about it. Linda wrote: >PLEASE, when you talk about pricing for Lupron shots, you must state not >only the time release factor, but the actual dosage. It varies greatly! True. We were going truly heavy-duty and at times I forget that some won't be, though we are finding that vet costs are down with the new practice to which one of vet has moved. We followed Joe Martins to Bellemead AH in central NJ. The old practise has a new member who has studied ferrets but we like a vet to have a lot of surgical background with them when possible. The decently lower costs than up here were a pleasant surprise though the ride is a long one so we are well splitting care btwn the two hospitals which is something we have never done before. Sukie http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org/ (Easily searched FHL archives) http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth (the FHL addy for several weeks now) http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list/files/ (Until FHL moderators finish going through and moving the rest of the last year and half's Files) http://geocities.com/sukieslist (which I badly need to update) [Posted in FML issue 3855]