Hi guys, Well, after making it through Katrina, we are sort of struggling along in North LA. We got through evacuation from N.O., relocation and everything only to be in trouble. Background: Two weeks ago both ferrets (Mab and Dustbin) had colds. Dustbin's seemed a little worse than Mab's but they both seemed to get over it pretty well. I pedialyted and chicken babyfooded them, and by the beginning of last week they seemed fine again. (Mab right now is very energetic, fat with winter weight and has a beautiful winter coat on.) Now, here's where I screwed up. I feel terrible about this part: I started last week and the ferrets seemed ok so I stopped feeding them babyfood and went back to work on Monday and back to the "normal" routine and everything. I don't know how I didn't notice that Dustbin was losing weight but he did, and fast! Friday night late I went to let them out of their cage and Dustbin was visibly much thinner and somewhat dehydrated. We have no savings or anything, and there aren't a lot (if you aren't already a regular patient at a certain vet) of emergency animal care services here where we are living now, so I started pedialyte and babyfood again. He isn't as dehydrated as he was, but he is very lethargic and has stopped eating and drinking on his own; I have to feed him. I can only get two tsp of babyfood gruel down him per hour or so, followed by about a tsp of water or pedialyte. He definitely has less energy today than he did yesterday, or the day before. Now all he does is sleep except when I wake him up to eat. He is eliminating (both kinds) but in very small amounts and not very often at all... say, several hours go by. He even has started to push my hand away when I pet him because he just wants to sleep. I should have taken him in today but I kept thinking over the weekend, and even today that I could nurse him though this -- we have no savings -- I literally have no money. We are paying our bills, and have paid them for february and we have absolutely nothing in the bank. I don't even have anything to sell because we lost a lot of the stuff in our apartment in N.O. None of the vets I called will take a payment plan; they offered to take a credit card, which I don't have, or hold a check for two weeks. I was reluctant to do that for fear the check would still bounce, but now I will happily do it, and they can take me to jail or whatever you do to people who write bad checks. I realized I should have taken him in because he is more lethargic rather than less, although this morning he seemed about the same. If anyone gets this who isn't on digest, please help! I need to get him through tonight and then tomorrow first thing I am going to take him to the vet, no matter what. If there is something else I can do that will help me make sure he makes it through tonight I will try it. He is interested in the babyfood gruel I feed him, and even when he won't drink water he will eat the gruel (which contains pedialyte). I wake him every hour or so to feed him, and he will lick the gruel off a spoon pretty eagerly until he's had enough. If anyone replies tonight, please email me privately as I am on the digest format and may not get it if you post to the list. Thanks so much. Also, if you are contemplating sending anything to me that isn't constructive, please know that I am already suffering for my lack of judgement and will never, never make this same mistake again. The past few months have been unbelievably difficult and neither my husband or I are really thinking very clearly at all. I know it isn't an excuse, but it is the way things are right now. This list has gotten me through some very difficult things, and I am turning to y'all once again. I appreciate each and every one of you. thanks, christine and Mab and Dustbin [Moderator's note: Sorry, I just read this at nearly 3:00 AM ET. This list is available ONLY as a digest, so people won't see your post until now. BIG] [Posted in FML issue 5160]