Hi all.. I don't know whether any of you remember me talking about jake a few weeks back. Well, he's been in and out of the hospital, the last stay was 10 days, trying to keep his fever down, it was 106! Right now he is home. He's on 2 antbiotics, baytril and chloro, carafate, and he's being force fed chicken baby food, 24cc's, every 4 hours. He's been home since Thursday, his temp is hovering around 103, 104, with out the meds to keep it down. He's depressed, sleeps all the time, has lost an enormous amount of mass, (we can feel his spine). The doctors dont know for sure what his problem is. He grinds when we feed him, so we know he's ulcerated somewhere, stomach for sure.. but perhaps his esoph. because he grinds almost right away when we start to feed him. He is wobbley when he walks, sometimes his hind legs follow him, sometimes they walk off in a different direction. How did it start? He's been sick since Feb 12th.. with symptoms starting out as lethargy and some weight loss. We were hand feeding him without a problem, bowel movements were fine.. he was on amoxi and the vets decided after a sonogram, that he might have lympho, (enlarged mesenteric nodes, but NOT peripheral nodes) so they put him on prednisone. Well, 3 days or so after the pred he starting grinding, and another day later, develpoed a fever and started throwing up. He started having runny stools, with some green, but not foul smelling, and it seems he started going downhill from there. He was hospitalized, put on fever reducing meds, and stronger antibiotics. He was being force fed. So now, he's home, after his temp being stabilized without drugs, and he's pitiful. My poor alpha boy, he's a ghost now compared to what he was. My question (sorry it took so long to get to it).. is that, for all we are feeding him, (1/2 jar or 24cc baby food every 4 hrs), his poops are *very* small, soft, with a touch of slime to them. He is pooping about 4 times an hour. Where is all the food going? What is are the mechanics of digestion at this point, in his condition? Does anyone think that lympho is causing this.. has anyone had a ferret with lympho that this has happened to them? If this is helicobactor, or campylobacter, or ECE... how long does it take to see an improvement? The vets can't put their finger on it. They are treating him for what they believe is campylobacter (sp) but they've run no tests. They say there is none. Is this accurate?. What about the ulcers? Has anyone had a ferret with an ulcer that has healed? How long did it take? What was the treatment? Sorry for so many questions. <sigh> Thanks. -Celia [Posted in FML issue 2616]