Hello everyone. The other day I posted to some boards talking about our permanent resident Zippy. http://www.picturetrails.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=2684479&uid=421224 He is 6 years old and has insulinoma. He was so depressed when he first came here in April we thought we were going to lose him. He has been doing wonderful since we put him on prednisone. No problems. He was outside walking in the evening with me on Monday. Then yesterday with Shawn. At about 11:30 pm last night I got him up to let him run around and get his baby food and medication into him. He ate all of his food and was wondering around. I got ready to go to bed and wanted to say good night to him (Shawn was staying up). I couldn't find him at first. Finally we found him in the tube under our futon. Upon pulling him out I noticed that he wasn't moving. Thinking he might just be doing the dead ferret thing on me I looked for breathing....I couldn't see it... then I saw his mouth... open.... not breathing. I looked at Shawn and was scared.... I don't have a clue as to what I said, but Shawn took Zippy and felt for breathing and a heartbeat. He had a heartbeat but was barely breathing and was unresponsive. Then Zippy stopped breathing. Shawn started CPR while I ran and got some Gatorade an also the kyro syrup. That didn't help at all. Since he was not breathing on his own he was also not swallowing on his own. I rubbed some syrup on his gums with a q-tip (learned that from Ferrets for Dummies). Shawn continued to breath for him and I called the ER Vet. The vet (not our normal one) said that she was over 30 minutes away and might not be of any help. I hung up and called our vet at home. She wasn't home...I left a message. Shawn was still working on him. After about 3 minutes I called the ER Vet back and told her that we needed to bring him in. Now, this is NOT our normal vet, nor our normal clinic. This vet tried to explain to me that what I was asking would not work. That he was old and would not make it to the vets. Trying to be nice... to a point... I explained that about a month ago I was at another shelter in Tucson and saw this same thing happen to another ferret. They had oxygen and sub-q fluids on hand there and were able to keep the ferret alive and breathing - then we rushed him to the vets. That ferret is fine now. I explained that I needed...no, I had to try, I couldn't just sit here and watch him die. So, she explained how much it would be for the ER visit (let's not go there) and I said fine. She said that she would have her tech meet us there and give him a shot of dextrose (I think that is the name) in his stomach and put him on some oxygen, but if he wasn't breathing on his own in 15 minutes that was all she would do. She didn't want the vet tech to stay out there all night. (SCREAM!!!!) So, I drive while Shawn continues to do CPR on Zippy. I thought we had lost him during the drive. The clinic is about 20 minutes away. About 3 minutes out, he started convulsing (this is my first time with it and let me tell you what... I don't ever want to go through that again!). Once we got there the tech put him on oxygen and gave him the shot. Then she explained that he might need to go to Tucson for 24 hour care. Tucson is about 65 miles from here. So, while she went and did the nice bill, Shawn and I talked. Zippy must have heard us cause he stabilized and woke up some. He stopped convulsing and was breathing. We decided that we wanted our vet to look at him in the morning. The vet tech gave Shawn another shot of the dextrose to take home in case it happened again during the night. After paying the vet tech and thanking her for her time we left. Shawn drove home and I held Zippy. CPR no longer needed and I have stopped crying... Shawn was up most of the night with him. I had to get some sleep because I had to work today. I called the vets office at 7 and they got him in at 10 am. Now... let me tell you, when I left this morning and went into Shawn's room where Zippy is at, Zippy looked perfectly fine. Walking around, wanting to play. Like nothing happened! At his appointment today (Shawn took him) the vet did x-rays along with feeling his belly and stuff. She said that the CPR work and can't see any brain damage (he looks and walks fine). After his tests results she said that he needed surgery. Appears to have an enlarged kidney or something growing on his kidney or near it. His spleen is a little enlarged and he also has enlarged lymphoids. She doesn't want to do the surgery until next week. She put him on antibiotics and up'd his prednisone to 3 mg. a day. She wants to make sure he is healthy enough for surgery so we don't put him at another risk. Shawn is home with him today. I am here at work...worried sick of course. Please keep Zippy in your thoughts and prayers. Before this happened last night with Zippy we picked up 2 new kids.. drove 4 hours to get them too! LOL. Big FAT boys. Long nails but really sweet. She said one was eating cat food the other ferret food... well turns out the ferret food was for rabbits and such! "WHOLE GRAIN" No fat but LOTS of carbs! Anyways, safe and sound and playing around. Joanne Ruffner Ferret Corner Shelter "Ferrets are the Spice of Life" www.geocities.com/ferretcorneraz www.supportourshelters.org There's a pot of Ferret Love at the end of the Rainbow [Posted in FML issue 4254]