To Diane Emery: >Hi- I am very worried about Rocket (our 1.5 yr old male). Yesterday >morning he had (and this is very gross, sorry) explosive diahrea (all over >the wall behind his cage, on his blankets, his food bowl, etc.) He is >acting normally, eating, playing, dooking, etc... were smoking... Could >this somehow have made him sick?? The most important thing that you noticed is that he is acting and playing normally. That's a good sign. And if he continues to eat or drink normally, the trip to the vet's is probably not required for rehydration at this point. I'm not familiar with an allergy to smoke. Acutally the signs suggest stress more than anything else, but I think that you would have to also consider some type of gastrointestinal indiscretion (perhaps he was fed, or found something that he is not used to.) The vast majority of diarrheas in ferrets are self-limiting, meaning that they clear up on their own. Stay with a bland diet, but take Rocket to the vet immediately should you smell a foul odor from the diarrhea, or should it contain blood or become black in color, or should he stop eating and being active. Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP Chief Pathologist, AccuPath Dept. of Veterinary Pathology [log in to unmask] Armed Forces Institute of Pathology [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 1435]