We had a scare this weekend. Saturday night at around 9:30 Rikki started bleeding. Red watery blood. I watched her closely and the next time (about 45 minutes later) she did the same thing so I started ulcer therapy and supportive care. Sunday morning after a full night of supportive care and meds I could wait no longer and called the vet. Larry said the bright red color meant possible intestinal bleeding and the tarry color was ulcer. By that time I was seeing tarry and no more watery red. The pepto and carafate every four hours (not at the same time), feedings every 2 hours and the twice a day amoxi seems to have worked to stop the bleeding. When I took her to the vet on Monday (after numerous calls to the vet on Sunday - he said to use my judgement and if she needed him to call and he'd meet me at the clinic no matter what time. Bless his heart he even called me on his own to check on her.) Larry said she didn't look near as bad as he imagined from my description. He checked her for anemia and she was low at 17-18% (norm is 30-40) but not critical (12% or lower) so we opted not to transfuse. She was eating very well (20-35 cc's every 2 hours) and her stools were formed but contained clotted blood. Larry gave her a Vit K injection (Lynda suggested the injection and Lynda is taking Rikki to work each day this week so she'll get her meds and feedings and have someone with her all day - such an Angel Lynda is- I pick Rikki up each evening and keep her on the 2 hour feedings evenings and throughout the night then take her to Lynda each morning). Her stool this morning was a normal color so I think all the bleeding has stopped and the wasted blood has passed. She is tired, her gums are very pale but she is alert and eating well. Hopefully the 24 hour/7-14 day supportive care will bring her strength back soon, I keep telling her she'll feel much better in a week. Saturday night I had to force her to eat, drink take meds. She had given up, she was so very tired and I was so frightened I'd loose her. Thank God she's still with us. Poor Rikki has not been right since ECE. I have several others that are also not doing well. I can't stress enough not to expose ferrets to ECE if there is another option. To look at our group they look beautiful, bright eyes-shiny thick soft coats-good weight but... They just aren't well. I can tell by looking at them. Sometimes the sparkle isn't in their eyes, other times they just lay around looking so tired... The ferret flu that Mrs Duck is talking about sounds like ECE. Did it occur a couple days after introducing a new ferret that wasn't showing symptoms? Either way the treatment is the same. Intensive supportive care. Not all ECE victims have florescent stools. Only a few in our group did. Not all of ours vomited. The damage that was done on the inside can't be seen by our eyes. And if the ferret has other medical problems that we are not aware of at the time - the damage can be tremendous. Mookie is just 15 months old. There is something wrong with him and we haven't been able to target the problem. That isn't for lack of trying or treatments either. Several (includes Mookie) in our group have an overgrowth of Clostridium, perhaps due to the damage to the intestinal tract from ECE not allowing food to digest properly. I've added good bacteria to their diet in the form of Buttermilk, L. Acidophilus, and other natural flora. We are treating them with Chloramphenicol (doesn't kill the bacteria only tries to keep it in check- hopefully till we can replenish the good bacteria). And I pray. Because of all the problems we've had I've elected to adopt only to ECE well informed, medical and supportive care appropriate homes. With ECE being so new in our area, that is highly unlikely. Not only are the people uninformed but so are the vets. WE can't even get the KS Veterinary Association to print an article written by our vet on ECE. The medical costs are overwhelming on ECE ferrets and it wouldn't be fair to the adoptive parents to push that burden upon them, and, they may not notice the small signs indicating illness in these ECE infected ferrets, signs that if missed could become critical. Or infect others that could become critically ill or may be already ill. It is our responsibility to ensure that doesn't happen. If we cannot do that, then we do not deserve to work with ferrets. As a ferret guardian our responsibility doesn't end with an adoption - it goes on with the ferrets forever..... And as for this guardian, I want the ferrets to be well, to play without getting tired so quickly, to not have occasional diarrhea or vomiting, to not be so lethargic and will do everything in my power to reach that goal. Hugs. tle [Posted in FML issue 1829]