Help! I need advice on how to help my ferret. Any help would be extremely appreciated! My ferret, Merlin, is really sick. I'm hoping maybe somewhere out there, someone can give a suggestion or two. Here is the story: About three months ago, Merlin started sneezing a lot. It wasn't like every minute, but it was much more than normal. We figured he just had a little cold. A couple weeks later, Merlin started to have some minor paralysis in his hind quarters. It started getting worse, and the sneezing went down. We took Merlin to the vet. The vet said Merlin might have lymphomia, a cancer, but couldn't find any tumors on his spinal cord. They took a blood test, but that came up negative. To see if he had a fracture of some sort, they took x-rays. Again, nothing. The vet gave him liquid prednisone, which is supposed to help relieve the pain. Despite daily prednisone doses, Merlin's condition kept getting worse. About a month ago, Merlin started licking himself down by the hind quarters. It was like he had a really bad itch, and he licked so much he lost his hair there and actually developed sores. All of those have healed by themselves, and hair is starting to grow back. Now, he drags his back legs behind him, pulling himself with only his front legs. It's so bad that he doesn't move unless he has to. He's not in pain, it's just hard to move with only his front legs. This has made it so he won't go down to the bottom of his cage where the food is from the loft where he sleeps. He refuses to sleep at the bottom of the cage. He will go down to the middle floor of his cage (3 floors, including the loft), and drink water. He also has suddenly gotten a huge amount of energy (when he's awake), more than the other ferrets we have. The others respect Merlin, because he beat them up when they first met, and offer to play from time to time, but Merlin doesn't accept very often. When he does, they have to be withing striking distance, or he won't bother to chase them. He still has intelligence. He makes an effort to go to the litter box and he recognizes everyone, his prednisone bottle, the food bag, and any place that might be a comfortable sleeping place when he's "patrolling" on the floor. He really doesn't like it in his cage, either. Everytime the door is open, he tries to get out. However, when he gets down, he wants to find a comfy place to go to sleep. We have tried giving him all kinds of treats, but the only things he likes are kitty food, Ferretone, and prednisone. The vet recommended chemotherapy pills, too. He's getting thin, so we'd like ideas for treats. ANY advice would be appreciated! The vet said he was going to die a month ago, and we don't think he has long to live. Merlin really needs some help, and we're hoping to find some here, or maybe a reference to a place that could help. Thank you in advance, Drew, Merlin, and the rest of the family. [Posted in FML issue 1282]