Last October, Jerry, who is now seven, had insulinoma/adrenal surgery. Her BUN was then in the 50's. After the operation, her glucose returned to normal but her kidney function continued to deteriorate. I'll tell you what we're doing for Jerry. I hope some of this will be of use to Belle. We're feeding Jerry a mixture of turkey baby food, Sustacal, Nutri-Cal, and Gerber's Banana Juice Medley with Yogurt. Fran Wiles posted this recipe, and we've modified it to reduce the protein. We mix one jar of Heinz turkey with 4 ounces of Sustacal and two jars of the banana yogurt and a couple of inches of Nutri-Cal. Jerry has been living on this since October. Since Belle is used to turkey baby food, you could slowly start adding the other ingredients, a little at a time. I don't think the exact proportions are critical. Dr. Weiss told us not to cut Jerry's protein too much; her said the Merck Manual recommendation for cats with renal failure would provide too little protein for ferrets. It's good that you're doing the subcutaneous fluid injections. Jerry is getting one every other day. To some extent, the frequency of the injections is an individual decision, based on the balance between the stress and the benefits it brings. Does Belle drink water on her own? Getting Jerry to drink enough, or even any, fluids has been a problem. For a while, she would drink from a small bowl in her cage. For some reason unknown to us, she has often preferred to drink from the dog's bowl. Often, she'll drink Deer Park water from a bottle cap if we coax her. Jerry is on many medications for the side effects of kidney failure. Since kidney failure causes gastrointestinal ulcerations, Jerry is on Carafate and Amoxicillin. Kidney failure causes anemia, so she gets Pet Tinic (iron and vitamin supplement) daily. She also gets one-eighth of a Tums every day to counteract calcium depletion. She also gets Amphojel to reduce the amount of phosphorus she absorbs from her food. (Amphojel is available over the counter in the stomach medicine section of the drugstore.) Since the ulcers have worsened recently, we've also added Zantac to the list. About a month ago, Jerry started getting a weekly injection of Winstrol V, an anabolic steroid. This helps the anemia and helps the body to build up muscle instead of breaking it down. Also, we're thinking of starting pain medication since Jerry sometimes cries when she turns around or when another ferret steps on her. Maybe you could keep Belle more energetic and comfortable by starting some of these medications and/or supplements before you start seeing symptoms. You can probably expect many ups and downs with kidney failure. When she suddenly seems to be worse, don't give up. In a few days she may improve. If you have any more questions, maybe you could e-mail me and put something like "cat with kidney failure" in the subject line. If ferrets are not mentioned in the correspondence, you wouldn't have to worry about someone snooping. Good luck to you and Belle, Clare Sebok [Posted in FML issue 1841]