OK, I'm stumped - and we've been to the vet yesterday and will go back again tomorrow - so this is not an inquiry in place of good medical care. What I believed to be a healthy 3-yr old male ferret with a big rolly-polly belly, took a real dive this past week - loss of appetite, nausea, yellow mucosey runny poops - if thy were green, I'd have thought ECE. Of course, this was on a holiday weekend - so I started him on Kayopectate to cut down on the runny poops, started with soup but he gave me fierce opposition - hangs his head in the litter pan at the smell of food. Started on Clavamox and pushed oral fluids and also pushed laxatone as I was thinking hairball. Went to the vet Tuesday as I am not getting enough food or fluids into him and his abdomen seems to be really tender. Tood a couple of x-rays - no sign of any kind of foreign body or of intestines irritated by a blockage - but the entire contents of his abdomen is pushed way over to one side. Vet tried to tap it, thinking it would be filled with fluid, but nothing there. Has a large spleen - but not THAT large - it's not the spleen pushing everything over. Gave him an antibiotic injection, a good amount of sub-q fluids and decided to keep up with supportive care until Thurdsay. Last night he made a spinach green, gelatinous poop. Now this looks like an ECE poop - but that doesn't make any sense to me as he's been in the house for about 4 months and had exposure to the other ferrets all that time. If he were gonna get it, he should have had it by now - and it wouldn't explain the belly. Completely refusing even soup - I got a whopping 3cc's of soup into him today - did better with warm fluids - some plain water and some water with Nutrical in it. He's just empty. He dragged himself to the newspapers to potty - too weak to get into a litter pan, and made another spinachy poop tonight - so this is 24 hrs since the last one - and he peed, but was laying in it, which made me realize he barely has any movement in his back legs - they're totally limp and when I pinch a toe or a pad, he doesn't pull away. Does this sound like anything at all you've ever encountered? We do go back to the vet tomorrow - but I just thought I'd check with you all to see if you've ever experienced anything like this or have any thoughts. I've got a good ferret vet - I'm just trying to think it through though - if you don't feel or see a mass, and you don't get fluid when you try to tap it, what's that belly filled with? Not sure if he's strong enough for surgery - but I would imagine that might be the only way to see what's going on. Thanks! - and feel free to contact me directly Jerri [Posted in FML issue 4204]