Hello all, I have a question for those who may know. My five-year-old ferret, Buster (a.k.a., Busty Dook) recently started having some pretty bad sneezing fits. I thought he had maybe vacuumed up a dust bunny or two while playing Cops & Robbers behind the sofa with the other ferrets, so I let it go. Within a day or two, he began sneezing blood. I thought he had possibly irritated his nasal passages from over-sneezing, or he had been bonking his nose on the floor while sneezing & had gotten a bloody nose. I resolved to keep a close eye on him for a couple of days. By the third day, he was waking up after every long sleep with a big, bloody, scabby booger in his nose, and his breathing began sounding kind of wet & heavy. He also had some pus coming out of his...ahem...wee wee. This was obviously not a good sign, so off to the vet we went. The vet surmised that in addition to a possible upper-respiratory infection, Busty may have some kind of growth in his nasal passages that was causing the bleeding & sneezing. We are taking a "wait & see" approach; Busty is on a 2-week course of Clavamox, to clear up the possible respiratory & urinary infections. He is due for a follow-up appointment after completing the Clavamox, when we will decide how to approach the next step. Whether this will include rhinoscopy (almost unconsciously called it nose-oscopy, hahahahha), medication, surgery, or benign neglect remains to be seen. My question to those in the know: have you ever heard of such a thing? If so, how did you treat it? What was the outcome for the ferret? I know that ferrets are prone to all kinds of weird ailments, but this one is new to me. Any advice would be welcome. I really, really hope this isn't the latest installment of sickness, misery & dying for my little weasel tribe...we've really been on a roll with that lately, and it just plain hurts when they go. I hope to have Busty back "bustin' dooks" pretty soon, but at this point nothing is certain. Thanks again, Jessica Jessica L. Manson 15 Monmouth St. #2 Boston, MA 02128 (617) 785-4533 [log in to unmask] www.whimsyphoto.com [Posted in FML issue 4856]