Hello everyone! I haven't posted in awhile. Before I get to the point, please understand something before judging me for my dilemma/question. Last October, my husband hit me with "he doesn't love me anymore" and he has a girlfriend and then he threatened to kill me AND MY PETS - (5 cats, 5 ferrets and 2 dogs). Needless to say, I jumped in the way of my fuzz-kids and luckily I had the phone in my hand at the time to call the police. I was on the phone with my father and he heard the whole horrifying threat. I will NEVER forgive him for doing that in my father's hearing range!! Anyway, he was evicted and a protection from abuse order was issued against him. (YES!!!! Thank the good Lord for some miracles.) Before all this, I ended up in the hospital for a bit due to the "situation". Now I am faced with an enormous debt that I know I will NEVER be able to get out of. He hid money our whole 16 years of marriage and wracked up the bills on frivolous things. But when it came to taking the fuzzies to the vet, I was "spending money unsupervised" according to him. WHATEVER!! I am one who full heartedly believes in acquiring a pet IF you have means to take full care of it. I also believe in keeping the animal for life!! I would rather go without food than have my pets suffer!! In any event, I was not aware this would be happening to me or I would never have my pets. I am so far behind on the bills, I know I will soon have to find other housing....which will be hard considering my debt/ruined credit thanks to my husband and a place to take 11 pets (one of my cats went to the rainbow bridge since my husband's departure.) That being said, I have a female ferret, Macie, age unknown, estimated to be 4 or 5 years old who was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. June 13, 2005, before this ordeal with my husband, Macie had an ultrasound done on her heart which revealed the following in the report: "Radiographs do show some generalized moderate cardiomegaly. The EKG tracings are of concern, as there are numerous atrial premature complexes and this would go along with the arrhythmia heard on auscultation. We of course, do see cardiomyopathy in this species, as well as metabolic disease and also hidden underlying neoplasia. The ultrasound study revealed no left atrial enlargement. The fractional shortening is within normal limits. There does appear to be left ventricular enlargement and this could go along with changes that would go along with this arrhythmia and possible cardiomyopathy. There is also concern with systemic-metabolic disease and any metabolic disturbance that may be present could be causing secondary arrhythmias. I realize though, that the animal is not showing clinical signs." There were no medications prescribed for Macie at that point and I was advised to give taurine in her diet. I do not fully understand the taurine and how to give it...so I made sure it was in the food I give her - Totally Ferret mixed with some IAMS kitten chow. Within in the last month or so, she showed signs of decreased activity and extreme lethargy, alot of flat-lining and VERY weak. Macie had an ECG done on March 1, 2006 which showed her heart was skipping every second and occasional third beat. Her heart rate was lower than normal, I am sorry, I do not recall what the vet said it was. Macie was prescribed Theophylline which I had the pharmacist mix in Ferretone 10MG/ML SUSPENSION which is given .35ml twice a day. I do not feel that Theophylline should be the medication used for treatment for her cardiomyopathy. Can anyone help me on this? As horrible as this may sound, I do not have the funds to have another ultrasound done. After talking to her vet, he confirmed all the ultrasound would show is how far advanced the heart disease is and it wouldn't change the treatment. I would like to know if there are any other medicines best suited for cardiomyopathy. I have searched through some of the archives as well as google searching for that disease in ferrets. I want to know which is best before I call her vet back to ask for another medication. Thank you all for your time. I do appreciate it. I apologize for the length. ~Mel [Posted in FML issue 5174]