For Cathy at [log in to unmask] >Reba is droopy! She behaves normally in most other ways, but when she walks >she only uses her front legs and drags her hinny around... It sounds like there are multiple problems that might be going on. Most medical types always try to find one underlying cause to explain all the symptoms, but that does not seem possible with everything you listed. Problem #1: weakness in the rear legs. Your vet seems to have ruled out neurological disease by finding normal muscle tone, etc. A very common cause for apparent rear leg weakness is hypoglycemia. This may be difficult to prove by just testing the blood sugar. The reason is that periods of excitement or stress can elevate the blood sugar. Hence, the car ride to the vet s and the handling to get the blood sample may elevate the number into the normal range. If a blood sugar has not been done, do it. Another test that your vet should look into is an insulin assay. Over 350 pmol/L is very suspicious. Hypogylcemia can easily give a droopy personality. Personally, I do not think that 2 1/2 pounds is an obese enough ferret to cause the signs. Problem #2: sporadic fever. Typically a fever is not seen with an insulinoma (the most common cause of hypoglycemia). It might be some respiratory disease but I would expect an elevated white blood cell count in that case. A differential count would also help to see if she has an elevated eosinophilia count to see if heartworm is a possibility. I would aim for the cause of being droopy (see above) first. Problem #3: all the other slightly abnormal findings. Mild spleen enlargement - monitor only for now. Possible heart enlargement - my big concern here is some underlying heart disease. This may also cause the lung findings on the x-ray. Neither antibiotics or steroids would really help heart disease and that may explain the lack of response to medications. An ultrasound can be done to evaluate cardiac function quite easily. Heart disease may also cause the droopiness, but usually I do not see it confined to the rear end. I hope this helps a little. Mike Dutton, DVM, DABVP Weare Animal Hospital [Posted in FML issue 1412]