Shannon, if he is not urinating then he should not wait even 8 hours. The urine could back up into his kidneys causing potentially fatal kidney damage or the bladder could rupture. The most common cause of this is ultimately from an adrenal growth, even if this is the first symptom of it and we've had one in that position have adrenal surgery on an emergency basis. Both enlarged prostate and crystal problems in male ferrets typically do trace back to adrenal problems and surgery is usually curative. Here is a compilation which has the information you need: http://www.smartgroups.com/vault/ferrethealth/prostate.txt It even includes useful medications and vet, Jerry Murray, either in the compilation or later (in which case, use the FHL archives) even went into some possible useful precautionary measures. I apologize for not being as clear as i could be; I'm at the tail end of a bout of influenza; know several eastern seaboard folks in more than one state who have had it already this year. Do NOT forget that ferrets can catch influenza. Even with precautions a ferret we have who is immunosupressants got it but he's fine now; the rest escaped getting it with precautions -- especially tons of hand washing -- used. >I created the original Magic 8 Ferret. Then our friend Melissa created >a talking version that uses Macromedia Shockwave (it's a free download >if you don't already have it). > >http://www.asktheferret.com/asktheferret.html Talking ferret? I'll give you Talking Ferret! :-) Take a look: We have a good sized room for the ferrets but they also get supervised time elsewhere, so when Ashling became thirsty during such an out time and let me know while we were in the bedroom, I grabbed a bottle of water from the stand and filled my glass while she watched so that she could drink from it. Maybe a half hour later I heard things falling in the kitchen. Ashling was doing something Steve and I have never seen her do -- knocking over water bottles (only the ones of the same design as the one in the bedroom). When I came in she stared at me then pointed her nose toward her dry water dish. Yes, she was very thirsty. Hey, she communicates! [Posted in FML issue 3917]