Re: the ferret with cardiomyopathy: I had a ferret like that myself ... Frederick. When Fred was 4 1/2 years old, in September 1994, I noticed that he was making a funny involuntary noise in his throat, like hissing, and that he was very lethargic. I took him to the vets' three times in one weekend, and he was diagnosed with allergies, asthma and an upper respiratory infection. They gave him antihistamine shots and had me give him children's Benadryl as needed. This perked him up for a while. The following weekend, though, I caught him having dry heaves and acting very panicky. I rushed him back to the vet, where they did an xray. The xray showed fluid in the lungs and a possibly enlarged spleen. The vet also noticed that he had some swelling around his neck and butt area, and thought that this might be swollen lymph nodes (i.e. ... an indication of cancer). They operated on the "lymph nodes" and found that they were actually fat deposits instead ... no cancer. They also determined from listening to his heart and from the fluid in his lungs that he had cardiomyopathy. We started him up on Furosemide twice per day (it's a liquid diuretic) with children's Benadryl as needed for upper respiratory infection (his favorite flavor was the orange one), and I took him back home. He was still quite lethargic, but the vet said that he was in no pain. (She also decided that his spleen was not really enlarged). I also had to spray nasal spray in his nostrils when he got too congested (this was NOT easy!) Fred hung in there until April of 1995. He continued to be very lethargic, and had trouble even making it all the way to his litterbox all the time. I bought him a cozy ferret bed which was low to the ground (so he wouldn't have to climb much), and he spent most of his time sleeping. When I was home, he lay next to me or slept on my chest/lap. Eventually, he just got more and more lethargic, and one day I woke up to find that he couldn't really move at all. I took him to the vet, and wished him goodbye before she put him to sleep. Sorry about the length of this post, but I hope this info. helps anyone else whose ferret gets this diagnosis .... [Posted in FML issue 1610]