Hello to everyone. I've been lurking for a while like a lot of people, but now I feel the need to post and see what everyone thinks. One of my ferrets has had a couple of bad episodes lately that I'm wondering about. Paco is a neutered male, 3 or 4 years old (according to what I was told when I got him a couple of years ago). He has no ear tattoos, so I'm not sure where he originally came from. He's always been healthy, but over the summer he has gotten a lot thinner than he did before in the summer. About a week and a half ago I let him and his buddies out for a run and after he had been out a half hour or so I noticed him digging at his mouth. When I picked him up his saliva was kind of foamy and there was quite a bit of it. He would gag a little bit and dig at his mouth and he seemed to be drooling a lot. I thought he had a piece of food stuck in his mouth because he had just been eating, but I couldn't find anything. After a little bit he stopped and headed for the food bowl where he proceeded to eat a good amount and then he nested down and went to sleep like nothing happened. Since then he has been fine and I figured maybe I just missed whatever was stuck in his mouth. Then it happened again last night. I couldn't find anything this time either and when he gagged he made a little squawking noise like he was in pain or something. He felt really tense when I picked him up and he was digging at his mouth so hard I was afraid he was going to draw blood. And then he got over it, ate a big meal, and went to sleep. This morning he acts fine, but I have an appointment with the vet anyway on Wednesday. I'm wondering if insulinoma starts out this way, since he has had all his shots and he is about the age when stuff like that starts showing up. Also, is there something I can do for him if it happens again between now and Wednesday? Thanks in advance for your help. This list is a great source of information and it's nice to know there are other people around as crazy about their fuzzy babies as I am. Dooks to all and prayers for all the sick and needy fuzzies. Deborah P. [Posted in FML issue 2804]