Hi All, I haven't posted in a while - Life has been too hectic lately. I have a few questions I was hoping some of you may be able to help me with. All 3 of my ferrets are having problems - UGGH. Especially since my vet doesn't really know what one of the problems is. First Up: My Deaf Ferret (she is 6 years old) - Or "Deaf One" - pathetic name I know <smile> -- She was diagnosed in September 2004 with an adrenal tumor - I started her on Luperin shots every month until I could afford the surgery for her. She had the adrenal tumor removed in March 2005 and has been doing really well but about a week and a half ago I noticed that her neck is swollen on both sides - which makes her fur stand out almost like a cobra's neck. I took her to my vet last thursday and my vet (Dr. Goodman - Small Animal Specialist in Aston, PA) said that she had never seen a ferret's neck swollen like that. She did notice that she had a little blood around her behind but there is no blood in her stool. She also had a fever (ferret average temp is 101.5 - her temp was 105). She has been taking the medicine for the past 10 days but the swollen has not gone down. She is not acting sick - still running around and playing etc. I called and left a message for my vet but I really can't afford to take her back to the vet at this moment if it is not anything really major - since I do have major problems with another ferret right now that is eating up all my money. I have spent close to $1500 in the past 2 months on my ferrets and actually getting ready to spend $500 on an ultrasound tomorrow on another ferret - so I am strapped. I was just wondering if anybody on the list have had a similar problem with a ferret as I described above - or know what the problem may be? If I have to go back to the vet I was hoping I could tell her that another ferret had a similar problem etc. instead of running numerous expensive tests. 2) Wally (He is 7 1/2 years old) - my male ferret I noticed about three months ago I noticed he lost a lot of weight - He does this every spring and gains it back in the summer so I didn't think too much about it until about a month ago when he started to drag his back legs every once in a while. I made him an appointment with my vet and she said that he sounded like he had a heart problem and that I should take him to get an ultrasound to see if he can be put on medication etc. It has taken me 2 weeks to get an appointment with a heart specialist. I am taking him tomorrow at 3:30 - hopefully his heart problem will be okay with medication. He is still so skinny - I have been feeding him Science Diet A/d which has been helping. I was wondering if anyone on the list has a ferret with a heart problem so I know what to expect - it is so hard watching him waste away like this. 3) Cuca (She is my rescue ferret who I have had for 6 years - she is at least 8-9 years old now) Last year she lost all of her hair so I took her to the vet. The vet felt her stomach and felt a really large tumor. At the time the vet told me with her age and the size of the tumor she would only give her a 50/50 to survive surgery - she also warned that she couldn't be sure if the tumor was on the good or bad side and if she opened her up and it was on the bad side that she would stitch her back up - the vet thought that with her age and the size of the tumor that she may be too weak to survive the surgey. So instead of doing surgery - I opted to give her monthly Luperin shots - and spoil her until she passed away - I thought quality of life was much more important than quantity of life. So I set about spoiling her and giving her tons of extra love - that was over a year ago - actually 1 year 3 months - she has been going in for monthly Luperin shots and check up to make sure that her tumor hasn't hit any internal organs etc. She far surpassed both the vet and my imagination - of course now I feel guilty thinking that she may have been strong enough for the surgery last year - but then again she may have died and at least she has had another year to live. The problem is the tumor has not stopped growing and now it looks like she has a tennis ball in her belly - she has still been playing and eating etc. but I just noticed that sometimes her legs slide out from beneath (This mostly happens when she is in my kitchen on the limoleum - she seems okay in her cage) when she is eating I guess the belly is getting to heavy for her sometimes to carry. She still doesn't seem to be in any pain and she does still play. A few nights ago though I thought she was going to die - she was out of her cage playing and she fell over on her side and just laid there - she would get up and run again and then fall to her side again and lay there. I wrapped her up in a pillow case and made her as comfortable as I thought I could and placed her in her cage - after crying half the night I thought for sure she would be gone by the morning - but I awoke to her up and waiting for her can food. I guess I just wanted to know am I being cruel keeping her alive like this? Sometimes I think I am being selfish I keep saying that she isn't in pain - at least that I know of so she is okay. Has anyone on the list gone through a similar problem with a ferret? Once again what should I be looking for to know is she is in pain, etc. The vet just keeps telling me to monitor her eating, playing, and bathroom activit ies which are all still fine. But I think sometimes ferret owners know more than the vets. I really don't want to put her to sleep - I always think that is the extreme last choice - but once again I don't want to be cruel and make her suffer an extremely painful death. Does anyone have an opinion or experience like this? Thanks Jen [Posted in FML issue 4914]