No, unlike humans, ferrets are not much inclined toward getting the side effects of Pred. Whew! Some have a problem with ulcers, esp. if they were already inclined toward them which is why some are on Carafate and why people repeatedly mention giving Prednisolone or Prednisone with food. After long term of high doses use some have problems with weight gain, especially if they also started out with little muscle mass (a too common problem, sadly) or have also been dropping muscle mass from long term high dose treatment. Also with long term use of high doses a few lose fur. (Note that the doses used in conjunction with either Florinef/Fludrocort or Percorten for adrenal product replacement in those with fully removed adrenals on each side to avoid Addison's crises are very low doses, but that doses for Insulinoma, lymphoma/lymphosarcoma, carcinoma, etc. can get high.) When a ferret who is on Pred get edema or ascites then it pays to look at the usual causes in ferrets, including heart disease (esp. cardiomyopathy types), lymphoma/lymphosarcoma, and kidney disease. There are some excellent past posts of Dr. Bruce Williams on Pred side-effects in -- I think -- both the archives of the FML and FHL. Consider, too, that some ferrets simply do eat too much, so if that is combined with too little exercise, and things which add to the laying down of fat like taking high Pred doses, or having adrenal neoplasia (which sometimes causes thoracic thinness and abdominal fat but can cause fat to be laid down anywhere -- even inside the thoracic cavity on rare occasion)... [Posted in FML issue 4740]