Hi, everybody! It's been a while since I've posted, but life has been crazy. Two weeks ago, I spent the day in the hospital with a kidney stone. That Wednesday, after a two hour round trip to the vet, we decided that Paleface needed surgery. I worked out of town Thursday and Friday; and, on Monday, Paleface went in for his operation. As you all may remember, he had an enlarged spleen, was lethargic, funny poop, etc. etc. Well it turns out that not only did he have a (thankfully non-cancerous) enlarged spleen, he also had a partial BLOCKAGE! Aaaagh! It seemed he fancied some (possible) piece of rubber to be a delicacy. I thought I was the world's most cautious mom. I can't believe he found something nasty like that to eat! Moral(s) of the story: 1) Just when you think your house is "ferret-proofed," they'll find a new way to get into trouble. 2) If you think that there is something wrong with your ferret, there probably is. Paleface has not been "right" since last fall. I suspect that he has had this nasty thing in his tummy since then. My only regret is that I didn't consider the surgery sooner. He's recovering slowly but well. He had to eat soft food (duck soup) for a week. Unfortunately, this meant force-feeding. He's not all that wild about the stuff to begin with, and his tummy hurt to top it off. Now, a week later, he's eating his hard food in pretty good quantities. He's still sleeping a good bit, but his activity level is improving. My poor little boy. I'm glad this story had a happy ending. See y'all soon! Gina and Paleface (Look Mom, no spleen!) [Posted in FML issue 1534]