I've been a lurker for a while and haven't really wanted to intrude before now... but the vets in my area rarely see unaltered ferrets and don't have a very good idea of what's within the realm of 'normal' after the surgery and I hope that someone here might have comments on our situation. We have an 8-month old ferret who was altered a week ago Monday. He was in rut at the time; we were trying to avoid neutering him mid- rut, but he was starting to get a bit aggressive - worrisome enough that we opted to do the surgery sooner rather than later. He came out of the procedure with flying colors, insisting on resuming nearly normal activity within the day. Since then he's been his normal self. No problems with swelling or redness at the site of the incision... no real signs of tenderness or stress. On the Sunday following the surgery, he seemed disinclined to be his normal, playful self. He was content to lay in bed and doze with my husband. When offered food, he'd eat it, especially cooked chicken and ferretone, but didn't really touch his kibble without coaxing. He did have water. The next day he was ravenous and ate and ate and ate. He continued to act normal until today... when he doesn't want to get up again. The first time it happened, we took a wait-and-see attitude and saw improvement, but having it happen again is worrisome to us. He's not tender anywhere on his tummy that we've noticed. Checking over his play area, he hasn't chewed on anything. Stools... well, they're normal when he's eating. I know that his hormones are probably in a state of fluctuation right now, but don't want him to get ill from not eating enough. We'll definitely take him to the vet if his symptoms don't improve (tomorrow) and hope that they can do something more than just run the typical battery of tests they run when they don't have an answer. Right now, though, we're in that scary time when we're waiting for something to change and for the vet's offices to open. Anyone out there with some experience or knowledge of what's common to see post-altering? Thanks... Rachel [Posted in FML issue 5149]