You may be allergic to your ferrets, but if this has just begun in the last month you may be having trouble from the ragweed season being worse this year in some areas than it often is. Do you also have trouble after other very aerobic activities? You can go to this allergy resource for info and to get your area pollen count: http://www.aaaai.org/nab/index.cfm?p=default Have you tried changing the litter to see if that helps you? Some people get good control from Claritin and I think that is sold OTC now, though I don't know if that is in the same strength as it had been by prescription, For me Allegra works (though my animal allergies don't include ferrets). For more serious problems like asthma there are Singulair (a very effective preventative, I've found) and inhalers. Years back I used to have problems after our ferrets had a certain treat which turned out to contain something i am allergic to so do check ingredient labels. Through the years I have noticed that people who don't have allergies tend to underestimate how uncomfortable they can become if bad enough and how much lung capacity is affected if there is asthma among the allergies, BUT if your meds are affecting your ability to sleep it also sounds like you haven't yet seen an allergist to look into medication options and some of those can really open a person's world. So can immunotherapy which sometimes is given in shots or sometimes sublingual drops. Never underestimate how much good medical care can help, nor how much better some prescription meds are than most of the OTC ones! If you are allergic to them and measures turn out to not be enough so you must give up your little ones here are two shelter lists: SOS Shelter List http://www.supportourshelters.org/ AFA Shelter List http://www.ferret.org/links/shelters.shtm If you must leave them with a shelter, please, remember that shelters always cost the people running them, both in their time and in money because there are usually just not enough donations, so be sure to donate money, please. Sukie (not a vet) Recommended ferret health links: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/ http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html [Posted in FML 5722]