Sorry - my reader just ate my letter with all of the quotes - 15 min down the drain ... Here's my recap off the top of my head - To Art Rochelle concerning colitis - The occasional loose or mucusy stools is not a major problem - as long as the ferret is not losing wait. Proliferative colitis, a disease caused by campylobacter organisms generally causes frequent, painful, and bloody defecations, and Fez isn't showing any of these signs. The major cause of loose stools is something awry in the diet. There is always the possibility of dietary allergy, as the colon will move this food along too quickly, before it gets all of the water out of it. Branprobably will not help here - it may worsen the problem - bringing more water into this stool. I think your vet is on the right track - we can wait and see a bit here. You might ask your vet if he/she knows of any hypoallergenic, lamb-based diets for cats and try it - changing slowly of course. That may help to rule out a dietary allergy. Keep us posted. To Effie Maire concerning Taz' hair loss.... The main causes of coarse, sparse fur in ferrets are 1) age, 2) intact status, 3) adrenal disease. I have a 7 year old ferret whose hair caot is starting to get a bit thin and "sticky". I see this a lot in older ferrets - dietary fatty acid supplementation has been said to help this, but I don't have a lot of experience with it. I also have not an intact male, but one who was "castrated", but I think has a retained testicle. He does have an odor to him, and his hair is a bit coarse. Could their be a possibility that Tax may still have a testicle? Then let's not forget adrenal disease - it certainly doesn't sound clear cut here, but let's keep it in the back of our minds.... Concerning dietary allergy, see above. Dietary allergy has never been documented in the ferret medical literature, but there certainly is no reason why it couldn't be. To somebody (sorry!) concerning sweets and tumors - Don't worry, giveing sweets can't cause pancreatic tumors. They arisee spontaneously in ferrets on all types of diets. (And hair loss suggests adrenal disease, rather than pancreatic disease, but no matter - you didn't give your pet a tumor). Bruce Williams [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 0784]