After almost 7 years of owning ferrets and having 11 currently, there's still so much to learn! Dr. Burgess gave a presentation to the Oregon Ferret Association meeting on Saturday. Among other things, I learned that the reason Science Diet A/D is great for sick ferrets that require syringe feeding is that the A/D liquifies, unlike most wet foods! No more clogged up syringes! Magellan has been "vomiting" for about 5 months. Dr. Williams helped my vet and I get Magellan started on medication for helicobacter. Dr. Burgess made me realize that I described the condition incorrectly. Magellan is really regurgitating his food. The food is not even making it down to his stomach (he starts retching within about 30 seconds after eating.) Then if he is unable to get the food down into his stomach after about 30 seconds of retching, the food is expelled from his mouth. We have been through the medication cycle 4 times now and soon as we stop, he gets really sick again. Magellan was not able to eat much of anything and had lost 1/2 a pound because he hated to eat but at the same time was starving. After some research, my current vet started him on twice a day Pepto-bismol, Flagyl, Amoxycillin, and liquid Zantac. Since starting this round of medicine on the 3rd of February, Magellan has only vomited only 3 times rather than every single meal. He still regurgitates at every meal but manages to keep the food down. He's back up to his normal 1600 grams but still won't touch hard food. I'm wondering however if something else could account for his problems. Dr. Burgess described an extremely uncommon condition called "megasophogus" (I hope that spelling is close.) The symptoms I described to him were enough to make him think that Magellan *may* have this. Ever since he got sick, I have been hand feeding him. Magellan will eat for about 30 seconds and then his stomach starts pulsating and his neck gets hard. He acts like he is choking to death and his ears will turn red if this goes on long enough. I have found that if I burp him by patting his back and rubbing his stomach, he will let out (what sounds like) a big burp and gurgling noise and then he can finish eating his soft food. Is this really the esophogus opening up and letting the food into the stomach? My vet did a barium series on an empty stomach. Magellan had no problem passing the barium and there were no foreign bodies. Dr. Williams or Dr. Weiss, can you shed any more light on this condition? Also, I was really sad to hear about Oscar. I'm sure you miss him. Dr. Williams, my private e-mail to you bounced. BTW, Magellan also licks up his urine. The the only ferret I have with this disgusting habit. He's also the Alpha (when he feels good enough.) -Carla [Posted in FML issue 1119]