I have a medical question. I hope I won't ramble on too much here. Here goes: I have two ferrets that have been to the vet both at the same time and on separate occasions because they have been "coughing, hacking, weezing" for a lack of better words at the moment. At first Niki just kind of sounded weezy and was sneezing, we thought, more than normal. Ringo was taken to the vet when he woke us up at about 6 am for three mornings making a gagging, choking, coughing sound. We thought maybe he was just eating too fast and getting choked, which is why we didn't take him right away. Everytime these two have been to the vet for this, which is a total of two times apiece, they have either been diagnosed as fine or with having an upper respiratory infection. Also, the last time I had them at the vet, he suggested that I should hairball them and gave me some laxatone. Now, just recently they both have been doing the same things, but it seems to me a little more violently. I walked in on Niki doing this and she looked like she was trying to hack something up. She literally looked like she was dry heaving. I called the vet and she said it was probably the infection again, that I could come by the next day to get some antibiotics if I wanted. Well, by the time I called the vet Niki had completely quit doing this and acted fine. I decided to wait a little bit and see what happened. Ringo was also doing this last night, again. I have been giving them laxatone in case it was a hairball, and some pediatric benadryl to Niki, because besides the coughing hacking she also sounds a little weezy sometimes, but it never lasts. They usually act just fine with just a burst of this behavior every once and a while. I guess my question is, has anyone else had a ferret with a "respiratory infection" ? Is this typical behavior for a hairball? Should I be running to the vet everytime they do this? (because that could get expensive if I'm running there for nothing) Sorry I rambled so long. Anyone with a suggestion can reply here or e-mail me. Thanks, Serra, and of course Niki, Ringo, and Chili [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 1724]