I received no response from anyone on my round worm query, but my research showed that ferrets rarely if ever get round worm. I asked the vet to test another stool sample and it came back negative! She only charged me for one of the tests and more importantly we were able to avoid unnecessary medication. I would still like to know if it is necessary to test stool samples at all, and what illnesses can be detected with this test. Today Belle started to cough and was very uncomfortable. She seemed to have something stuck in her throat! My wife rushed her to the vet. They took an X-ray and had to give a general anesthetic and found nothing. We were so scared, but Belle seems fine now. The vet said that she shouldn't eat or drink for 2 more hours and gave us some antibiotic, it's a liquid but there is no label. She's to get 10 cc twice a day. I hope we have no trouble getting her to take it. We got a call for Belle on Friday. How many FML subscribers get calls for their ferrets? Evidently we won a contest for a year supply of dog food from Petco!!! As Belle isn't partial to dog food we will have to convince them that she's a cat (actually a kitten). I'm not sure if we get S.D. or Iams, but she likes both. It's nice that although I never ever win any contests, my ferrets luck is much better :-) Petco doesn't seem to know what ferrets are, they completely ignore them (as far as stocking food or ferretone or ferret toys, not only in the FFZ of NYC, but also in their Nassau County stores. So goes the "Adventures of Belle" (c 1994). Belle and Steve in NYC! [Posted in FML issue 0854]