I had a similar experience. When I first got Woobie and was a new ferret owner, He came down with ECE. I Took him to the vet. I have never used this vet before. He told me he needed to run tests and needed a hospital stay etc.. For the first visit and the hospital stay it cost me $360.00. I had the cash and paid the vet and took Woobie home. He almost died that night. I called the vet and had the answering service beep him at home.. It was 10pm. he told me to go get caro syrup and feed it to Woob every 2 hours and bring him in in the morning. I brought him in. The visit cost me another $60.00. The vet wanted to give me some meds to give to Woobie but it would have cost me another $60.00 for them. I was broke.. I gave him all the money I had. He wouldnt give me the meds and let me pay him when I got paid that Friday. I took Woobie home and he was dying in front of my eyes. I called my Mother and was sitting there with a little limp Woobie in my arms. My Mother called that vet and reamed him good! Told him what the hell kind of vet are you? You dont care about animals! You are just going to let this poor animal die? She gave you alll the money she had and you cant let her pay you a measly $60.00 on Friday?? The vet told her that he cant do anything. Im not sure if he had no idea what to do for Woobie or if he was just so $$ hungry that he didnt care. About 11:30 that night I get a phone call from the vet saying that he will call a Prescription into my drug store. He must have had an attack of conscience or he found out what to do abut ECE. Once Woobie got better I never went to him again!! I found a great vet here in NJ. They are a 24 hour emergency. Unfortunately they are quite expensive. Woobies exploratory surgery and removal of his adrenal tumor and 3 day hospital stay cost me $1200.00 But they are letting me pay $100.00 a month and will never turn away an emergency due to lack of cash at the moment. If anyone wants the names of the vets. the one NOT to go to or the Great ones.. please feel free to E mail me. Like I said i am in North Jersey. Sharon, Woobie & Princess [log in to unmask] >So I guess the almighty dollar outweighs the highest concern. [Posted in FML issue 2257]