Know how how sometimes the obvious just hits a person over the head? It just struck me today how well the good works of the AFA and the IFC typically compliment each other despite being independent, with the hard working volunteers of each sweating their rears off to fill different but complimentary niches in different ways and yet working toward the same final goal of helping ferrets -- so that the education of each REINFORCES the education of the other. Really cool! I think it popped in because I was thinking that I hope that it won't be long until there are posts in the FML and FHL of the full vet speaker line-up for the autumn AFA veterinary conference, though I have a feel for how much work goes into the last 6 months of preparing any huge event so I am not nagging -- just making folks aware of the feeling of happy anticipation and hope that our vet will be able to go this year (even though I can't myself be there anymore than I was able to be at the recent symposium). May I right now pat both organizations on the back and express my thinks for them doing incredible work year after year, please? Volunteers sure have a marvelous history of being the backbone of the ferret community. Speaking of health education, yesterday I thought that I was past a bit of a bug I've had for a few days, but Hilbert was acting like I was really ill. He insisted on looking at me with mournful eyes and laying down near me but preferably not having me touch him while at the same time insisting on more attention from Steve and acting like he wanted Steve to notice me more (as if that would even be possible). Well, I was wrong and Hilbert was right because later in the day I broke with fever again. This led to Steve asking me: "Has anyone on the FML recently discussed ferrets noticing illness? I don't think that we have. We have our own stories, of course, but we'd love to read yours and maybe join in later: ***** When have your ferrets been aware that you are sick? What did they do? ***** When have they noticed that a consumable is unsafe even though you didn't realize it? ***** How have they behaved when you are ill or injured? ***** How did they alert you to someone else being ill? ***** What special ways do any of your ferrets tell you that they are ill? What behaviors do they use? Pred: there is no real set maximum Pred dose for ferrets anymore. Over time in practice with many vets it has become more a matter of what a given individual will tolerate. Some have been helped by far higher levels than you mention. There are some things which may help. Be sure that the med is given at least twice a day; some do better with it given three times a day. Prednisolone skips the liver processing step so for a number of ferrets it is more effective than Prednisone. Try a trial of compounded Diazoxide. (See the reference shelf in the FHL Files section to find compounding pharmacies used to ferrets. Some ferrets are different then the norm in an alternative steroid may work better for those individuals. There are more options. The archives of both the FML and FHL will help you. Has surgery been discussed? I was looking for something else and came across a neat chart in http://www.addl.purdue.edu/newsletters/2003/Summer/summ2003.pdf after page 11 of some of the nasty super-bugs people has created by using antibiotics in the wrong ways. Note that people should NEVER use antibiotics without veterinary okay and guidance and then need to use the full amount except when the treating vet says differently, time the doses right, not skip doses, and not over-use antibiotics on their own or use them casually. Antibiotic resistance in bacteria is something we humans create with sloppy medication medication practices and by forgetting to use caution, and those super bugs are a major health threat. [Posted in FML issue 4890]