Does anyone know why our ferret would start screaming (the kind of scream you'd only hear when they are terrified or when they have been stepped on) for no apparent reason. Yesterday morning at around 7:15 am, when I went to get our 5 yr old female ferret Jasmine out of the cage( which she shares with our 4 yr old neutered male albino rescue ferret Joe Nameless) for her morning feeding, Joe came barreling out -pretty normal behavior for him, as soon as I opened the cage door. I put him back and took Jas out for her daily mush, which took only about 10 minutes. When I went to put her back, Joe was curled up sleeping on a blanket. As I reached in with Jas, her tail lightly brushed Joe, upon which Joe woke , SCREAMED, screamed, screamed and screamed again as he ran into his enclosed sleeping box. This was very unnerving, since they never fight, get along well together and have been cage mates for about 4 years. After trying to reassure him and calm him down, I (and by this time, my wife, Kathy) got him out of his box and held him wrapped up in his blanket on my lap. After about 5 minutes I slowly moved him in his blanket, whereupon he SCREAMED again repeatedly, thrashed and bit me hard (4 holes in the hand to prove it). Kathy quickly called our vet and we were there by 9 am. The vet saw no obvious signs of anything abnormal and by this time Joe was looking perky and was allowing himself to be touched in a normal manner. No temp., no tenderness on palpation, stool looked normal, no inflammation of eyes, ears or gums and his heart rate and breathing were normal. Our vet thought maybe a low blood glucose test and observation were worth a try, so she ran a glucose test, 5 1/2 hrs after pulling out his food. That test read 70. However, he did scream again at the clinic when one of the technicians accidentally bumped his cage. Theer is some previous history which might have some bearing, but I'm not sure. Back on November 25, 1997, Kathy took Joe and one of our other ferrets, Binky in for their rabies shots (Imrab for ferrets) at which time, some 10 minutes after the shot was administered. Joe had a severe anaphylactic shock reaction. He was vomiting and gagging, had loud stomach noises, passed a considerable amount of blood and then, after a while, became totally limp. The vet administered the following drugs and treatment: Prednisolone, Epinephrine, Diphenhydramine, Lasix, oxygen and 20 cc of Ringers solution SQ. Two hours later and, we thought, back to normal. NOTE: Joe had had 2 previous rabies shots and had showed no reactions. Could nerve damage have occurred as a result of this reaction or treatments? Then, back in January, '98, Kathy took him in again because he looked a little paler than normal and he seemed a little more nervous and his legs were really shaking (as if he was cold) when he was being held. Nothing was found by the vet at that time. These past few days, Kathy noticed he has a slight head tilt, but no tenderness to his head when touched or to his ears during cleaning. He also seemed to be in a nervous state. That "let me out!" attitude and pacing - running - in his cage and eating frantically when being fed.He also scraped and bruised two toes on each back foot somehow in his cage. He might have caught them in an old sleeping box made of plastic which was cracked, which has since been removed. Both feetare almost completely healed, with no residual swelling, after treating 2xs daily with a topical ointment that we have used before to treat assorted ferret injuries or sores. His nose is still pale and after the screaming yesterday seemed paler than normal, b ut his gums and foot pads look a nice pink shade. We have had many ferrets over the past 18 years (and even got Joe and our 5 others through the Green Virus just this past summer). But this episode withJoe puzzles and worries us, the vet and our other ferret friends. Presently we have him on Prednisolone 0.25 mls - 2xs daily and we are spoonfeeding him 3xs daily. We would appreciate any suggestions as to what to do, what to test for, etc., or if you have encountered such strange behaviour before. Please let me know as soon as possible. Thank you! Frustrated as to what to do for our "Frantic Fuzzy Joe" Mike and Kathy Smith, Binky, Boomer, Jasmine and Joe Nameless (who was caught in a live trap and brought to us with 20+ deer ticks on his face) [Posted in FML issue 2229]