Please, if ever you step on a ferret, they need to see a vet for xrays, go to a emergency animal hospital. Years ago, I stepped on one of my ferrets that was under a overhanging bedspread and I heard what sounded like a pop. Right away I felt denial setting in. I picked him up and his eyes were big. I watched him for a few minutes and he seemed okay but then he walked and laid down and I knew something was really wrong. I rushed him to a emergency vet (they did not do ferrets) about 10 minutes away and they immediately did xrays and tried to get a catheter in him but could only get it into his rear hip as his veins were collapsing. Of course he bit the tech out of fear. Cooper J went into shock and they rushed him into surgery. They ended up siphoning his blood out of his stomach where it was pooling from his damaged popped spleen. They saved the blood and filtered it and then after repairing the spleen, they gave him a blood transfusion with his own blood. It was a very rough few days for Cooper J in the hospital. He had to wear a "cup" around his head which had straps attached and threaded through his chest and shoulders, so he would not pull his catheter out. I went to see him every day, patting him, feeding him and comforting him. He pulled through! Thank God he was a very strong willed ferret. He lived two more years and passed on due to cardiomyopathy at over 8 years of age. Mind you, he had adrenal surgery at about 5 years old and was up and bouncing around in the cage on the way home a few hours after surgery. He was a fighter. He had to wear a cup on his head when he had the bilateral surgery as he was always trying to get at himself. I also had the "kitten soft nails" (that go over nails to stop them from scratching and tearing things up) put on him to avoid him doing any damage to himself. Please never think it did not happen, as it did, when we do something accidently wrong and by not taking your ferret to the vet, it could cost them their life. It is better to be safe than sorry, get them to a vet. I do know of someone who stepped on a ferret and thought they were okay as the ferret seemed okay. A few hours later, the ferret was found dead, half in the sleepsack. I learned from her experience it is best to have them checked out. Eleanor, Donald and the 12, waiting on 2 new boys [Posted in FML 6048]