Hi everybody! I haven't posted in a really long time (and haven't read the FML in really long time either, except for the last two issues, sorry:). Anyway, I've obtained quite an interesting little ferret two weeks ago. During finals week, one of my classmates announced that she knew of a baby female ferret with a broken leg that needed a home. I really don't know what I was thinking at the time, but I gave her my phone number to give to the person looking for a home for the ferret. When the ferret arrived, it was extremely depressed, lethargic and nonresponsive. It was also covered in feces and urine. After shoving some baby food and pedialyte down it (it almost ate a whole jar in one sitting), I gave it a much needed bath and discovered it was not a baby girl ferret, but a baby boy, with severe urine scalding of his ventral abdomen. About two days after I got him, he started to act like a normal baby ferret (of course it was also the day I brought him to the vet) except for severe ataxia (incoordination). The vets here at Washington State University didn't think it was infectious (rabies, distemper) and seemed to think it was more of a structural problem in his brain. I do believe he is a carrier of ECE as all my three ferrets broke with diarrhea and vomiting three days after I got him. (All three are doing fine.) I was able to get some more information from the third party that brought me the ferret (as I am unable to contact the previous owner): the ferret had been ataxic ever since the previous owner got him six weeks earlier and the ferret had fallen from a second floor apartment. Now, two weeks after acquiring this ferret, he is doing very well. He is growing like a weed and eating me out of house and home. He is normal in all respects except for his ataxia. My biggest problem right now is trying to get him to use the litter box. He is mobile, but doesn't walk very far very fast. He tries sometimes, but his hind end goes too fast for his front end. It really looks like cerebellar hypoplasia or some type of cerebellar disease. Unfortunately I don't know the history of his littermates or even if it was congenital. I was wondering if this is some rare anomaly or if it occurs more frequently than I think. I've never heard of it in ferrets before. If anyone knows anything I'd appreciate it if you could send me e-mail at [log in to unmask] (Feel free to e-mail the FML as well, I just usually don't have enough time to read it). Thank you, Lisa and Squirt Daisy Snowflake Thomas (neurologic boy) [Posted in FML issue 1943]