If you go to http://www.ferretcongress.org and open the critical refs section by clicking on it you will find a LOT of great links, including ones to lists of ferret vets. (Check the site out; there is a LOT there and there will be even more in the future; it is one of my 5 most used ferret sites when I need to seek information and had links to the rest of them! I keep it right on my bookmarks bar for easy access.) Liver values: the ALT levels go WAY off in ferrets when they don't eat. Bilirubin is a more important value in ferrets. See: Confusion and Controversy in Interpreting Ferret Clinical Pathology Data http://www.afip.org/ferrets/Clin_Path/ClinPath.html Most specifically these paragraphs (which I have permission to quote): >Probably the most common misinterpretation that I see on a routine basis >is in the area of hepatic enzymes. Remember, that the ferret, being by >nature an obligate carnivore, has an extremely short digestive tract, >and requires meals as often as every four to six hours. Should food not >be available, it possesses the ability to quickly mobilize peripheral >fat stores in order to meet energy requirements. When this physiologic >mechanism is activated, the liver is literally flooded with fat, which >results in hepatocellular swelling which may be marked. The result of >this swelling is the leakage of membrane enzymes such as alanine >aminotransferase, and as the hepatocellular swelling increases, >occlusion of bile canaliculi occurs, resulting, over time, in elevation >of alkaline phosphatase. > >In conjunction with this physiologic change, elevations of ALT up to >800 mg/dl can be seen, and alkaline phosphatase up to approximately >100 mg/dl. This often causes confusion to practitioners, who render >an erroneous diagnosis of unspecified hepatic disease. However, hepatic >disease is quite uncommon in this species; the most common cause of true >hepatic disease in the ferret is neoplasia, with lymphosarcoma causing >95% of cases. Rarely bacterial infections of the liver or biliary tree >may be seen. > >The diagnosis of hepatic disease in the ferret must be based not only >on ALT and alkaline phosphatase, but other clinical indicators in the >CBC and chem panel. Clinical elevation of icterus or an elevated >bilirubin is an excellent indicatior of primary hepatic disease, or >concomitant leukocytosis or pyrexia may lend additional credence to a >diagnosis of primary hepatic disease. [Posted in FML issue 4533]