Mongo is 3yrs old. When he started losing weight we took him into the vet right away due to the fact we had just lost a ferret, Keeko, who had the same symptoms. They checked his blood and his poop and both came back fine. Keeko had tests done and for him all of them came back fine along with the ultrasound he had. Mongo has not had an ultrasound done yet. The only option left for Keeko was exploratory surgery which he would not have survived. Mongo is not as sick as Keeko was. Keeko did had blood in his poop, which Mongo does not have, and his proteins were low even though he was eating on a regular basis. We did not have them do anything to Keeko after he passed away. My family is going through a very rough financial time and we couldn't afford it. The vet recommended that we put Mongo on an antibiotic and a high protein food that we can only get through him. That food is Hill's Prescription Diet a/d. He gets it 3 to 4 times a day and we fill it to the 15 mark on the syringe. We try and get him to eat it on his own by pushing a small amount onto a plate. He will usually eat some of it, but the rest we have to force. The vet showed us how to feed him that way. My ferrets eat Marshals food with a can of moist kitten food once a week. That is the only food we have ever given them. We don't use cedar in their cage or anywhere near them. They have access to fresh water 24hrs a day. We use the recycled newspaper litter in their litter boxes. We also do not use a deodorizer in their room. I have a air purifier in their room. We have not changed anything about their diet or living area in the 3yrs we have had them other than to take out the carpet and put in an area rug. There is tile on the floor now. The tile was under the carpet and not something we laid. The floor is mopped with hot water weekly and with bleach once a month. The time we use bleach the floor we use the bleach mop and then mop the floor with a different mop and regular water 3 times to make sure we get the bleach up. We have done this for 3 yrs with them. There has always been an area with just tile that we did this on. Since we removed the carpet it is just more tile that is mopped. I tried to think of all I could to post. Not sure if this helped or not. [Posted in FML 5404]