friends... i have been communicating with a friend of mine for a few weeks about illnesses in some of their ferrets...that the vets could not figure out...nothing seemed to help... here is part of the e-mail to me with the cause...finally figured out...[i have permission to share this]... ~~~~~~~~ I think I've finally found the cause of my ferrets' distress. It seems that the exhaust for my furnace was totally blocked. Every time the furnace turned on, it was pumping carbon monoxide into the house. All of my ferret cages are situated around one of the main heat vents (they are all within just a few feet...I thoug ht it would be nice to let them have the heat first. There is no heat on the second floor, but there are gravity vents to let heat rise from downstairs.). I have a fan upstairs that exhausts air 24/7. It would seem that it was this fan that saved all of our lives! Anyway, I have a chimney guy here now, cleaning out the debris that is blocking the chimney. When he is done, the furnace guy has to come and clean out the furnace (its totally filled with soot from not being exhausted properly) and get the heat back on. I'm hoping that this will be enough to let my little ones start getting better (I hear that, even with severe carbon monoxide poisoning, once removed from the source of the problem, recovery is usually quick and complete) and they will all become happy, bouncing little kids again! ~~~~~~~~ this is a silent, deadly foe...and this is the time of year when it can become a problem...so...please...even if you have a carbon monoxide detector...be extra vigilant...they DID have one...but it did not go off for some reason...maybe by the time the fumes got to it they were already dissipated enough to not register... i know my friend went thru hell trying to find out what was wrong with the ferrets...they were sick...listless...not eating right...one even stopped breathing...but was saved... God bless my friend for saving these babies...for the endless care and never giving up on them...and for allowing me to share this with y'all... they are not on the fml...that is why i asked if i could post this... PLEASE...if anyone out there has specific symptoms for people to look for...please post them...i am going on a couple months of back and forth e-mails....and i do not remember the details now... please be careful...this is a heartwrenching story...i know y'all got the abbreviated version.. with no details...but believe me when i say it was an emotional trip... thanks for listening... kat Fuzzy Hugs & Whiskered Kisses...from The "Crochet-ty" Lady... Main Page ... http://ferretlover97.terrabox.com/index2.html Happenings Page ... http://ferretlover97.terrabox.com/ By the time you can make ends meet...they move the ends. Everybody's born so they can learn to live a good life and love others. Animals already know how to do that, so they don't need to stay as long. - Anonymous [Posted in FML issue 5121]