Remember that visually and in blood tests ferret livers can confuse vets because they are NOT like the livers of other animals in some ways! (In fact, we have one with what could visually look like a liver in the sort of major trouble you mentioned which really instead was a liver which was responding to the reduced nutrition and irritation of a stomach blockage.) There is a wonderful write-up in "Confusion and Controversy in Interpreting Ferret Pathology..." in Dr. Williams' AFIP ferret site: general URL: http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html article specific URL: http://www.afip.org/ferrets/Clin_Path/ClinPath.html Hopefully, there was a biopsy done and the tissue sent out to a ferret knowledgeable veterinary pathologist. That is always the smartest thing to do when there is a surgery! If a vet doesn't know who is knowledgeable in any given area then use Mike Garner of Zoopath; he's excellent and is used by people like Dr. Bruce Williams (who is incredible but is exceedingly short on time) for studying the tissues of some of their own ferrets. We have a local one who is good but when there is a puzzle the tissues or some of the tissues go to Zoopath on Dr. Bruce Williams' recommendation. http://www.zoopath.com/About%20Us.htm Contact info from the site for those of your vets who are not on-line: Northwest ZooPath 654 W. Main St., Monroe, WA 98272 Phone: (360) 794-0630 Fax: (360) 794-4312 e-mail: [log in to unmask] There are some fine past posts in the FML and FHL on the topic or biopsies or of necropsies (with some of the same info that is true for necropsies (like not freezing tissues) being true after surgery) so check the archives of both because you will find useful info like that in: http://listserv.cuny.edu/Scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind0011&L=ferret-search &P=R30465 BTW, FML members in Mexico will want to note this from the Zoopath newsletter: >Updating pending news from the previous newsletter, we are happy to >announce that Dr. Carles Juan Salles sat for and passed his ACVP boards >in September of 2002. Dr. Juan Salles is the first board certified >pathologist in Mexico and is now working with and training residents of >his own. Our next resident, Dr. David Espinosa, will begin his study >plan in January, 2004. Sukie (not a vet) P.S. At he site there is also a picture of liver appearance chances secondary to not being able to eat or digest enough (anorexia) which would make a person think primary liver disease in other animals Yes, primary liver disease can happen but it is uncommon, so I hope that when the pathology results come back the news is better than you expect. [Posted in FML issue 4585]