Dear anonymous, When I read your letter on FML, I could not respond fast enough! The same scenario is being played many times over and over all over the country every day. Your ferret almost certainly has ECE. It was brought in by the new little one who is not ill but is the carrier. That means he survived theECE. This disease is a wasting diahrreal disease that strips the intestinal lining and causes a ferret to feel very ill and stop eating and drinking to the point they will die if not encouraged to eat. The protocol is to start amoxi-drops at 1ml initially then one-half ml 2 times a day,( the ECE is a corona virus and the antibiotic will have no effect on it BUT is will knock out any other existing bacteria process which usually accompanies this illness. The other considerations are to feed the ill animal. The eating not only sustains its life and keeps its weight up, but the ferret will feel better eating than having the affected intestinal tract to be empty. They often get ulcerations in their mouth as well as the intestinal tract and shake their head when given the liquid supplement. Your ferret will go down quickly if he does not eat. Ferrets must eat to live. If you have never supplemented with liquid diets, try this one: One can of Science Diet canned A|D,(can only be gotten from a vet-Get the CANINEl|FELINE -comes in a small can) To this add one\fourth FINELY ground dry food(Science diet, Iams, Totally ferret, or whatever he is currently eating),put in one-half finely ground Pepto -bismol tablet(I prefer the cherry flavor),also put in Linatone or ferretone-1Tablespoon, then gradually add this liquid as you grind it all together--FRUIT FLAVORED PEDIALYTE(I use the generic from Walmart but it must be FRUIT flavor). Now the liquid amount should be to make the "duck soup"(as many ferreters call it),about the consistency your little one likes. I think about 3\4th of a cup maybe. Add more or less to get soupy mixture. I am a little vague on the liquid amt. because I make my recipe in a larger quantity, and give supplements to my old and insulinoma ferret and new rescues that have been malnourished. I have amassed a ton of info on ECE since about 9 months ago we were hit with it. We got it when we visited our son in Texas who had l ferret about 1 and 1\2 yr. old and they brought a "healthy" kit in to be company for her. She wasted down to almost a skeleton before we learned about supplemental feeding. Most vets don't know about "duck soup" ,but I would not be surprised that you will be deluged by FMLers telling you about ECE [Posted in FML issue 1835]