I am almost ready to give up. I am having a problem with Rose. She is a 5 1/2 year old female and here is the background on her which could all be relevant: Rose is part of a group of 8 I had for at least 4 1/2 years. The group of 8 was a very loving group and they were all housed together in a very large cage in great harmony . Only 2 remain from that group, Loopy and Rose. I moved Loopy to her own cage when Rose got sick and also showed aggression to Loopy The other 6 have died in the course of 13 months from an assortment of ferret maladies. Vada was the last to die on October 3 (died under anesthesia for dental October 3) Three weeks before that Bootsie died from cardiomyapathy and lymphosarcoma. Bootsie was Rose's sister. Rose has adrenal disease and went through a lupron series late summer. Her problem started with diarrhea and I took her to the vet. After two vet visits and a fecal check and 2 courses of amoxicillin she didnt seem to be getting any better. She stopped eating her dry food (Iams kitten) so I started her on a gruel mixture. Ground up dry food, ensure, baby food, some pedialite warmed in the microwave. I have changed it around to see what she would eat better and now am feeding baby food and heavy cream which she readily ate for a while. The consistency of her poops has improved considering what she is eating--she is basically eating a liquid diet and her poops are the consistency of soft serve (sorry for being so graphic but the vet assistant told me to exactly describe what her poop looked like) Now she is balking at the baby food and cream and only eating a few licks. I should also say she eats it only from a spoon, not a bowl in her cage and only from me and not any other family members. I don't know how to get her to eat. Before all this she was very spunky, bossy and lively. My long term goal would be to get her healthy enough to have adrenal surgery but at this point I just want to get her back to being herself. I don't know if she has given up or what. I have brought 3 ferrets to our household and that could be a stressor as well but I have them all in separate cages. Any suggestions? I will be making another vet appointment tomorrow but I think those of us in the trenches with the fuzzies have a wealth of knowledge that only comes with day to day living. Would giving fluids make her feel well enough to want to eat better? Is there something that will stimulate her to eat? If this was/is ECE is 6 weeks long enough for it to run its course? Do ferrets on "gruel" ever return to eating dry food? Sorry for all the rambling I dont want to leave out anything that might be important out. Thanks. Rita [Posted in FML issue 4335]