Hi Ferret Folk We humbley request good thoughts and prayers for Mitzy. Yesterday I noticed that she had severe diarhhea. I took her to Dr. Cathy this morning and Mitzy was ever so cooperative just before we left home. I allowed her to poop on the floor, so I could take a sample with me. Dr. Cathy took a slide of it and looked at it under the microscope. There is no bacteria in it. Now, one would think that this is a good thing, well apparently it's not. There should be some natural flora (good bacteria) in there and the few bacteria that are there are dead. Dr. Cathy says it should be "swimming with bacteria" . The thought here is that she is pooping out only partially digested food, It's pretty seedy. So, maybe she has an inflammatory bowel. The stool is pretty yellow, so the good Dr. thinks there may be some liver involvement or this may be a condition that she has had for awhile and has progressed slowly. She has always been a ferret who had diarrhea on and of , but it never lasted and never caused her to stop eating or playing so I never panicked. We didn't start her on antibiotics because there are no bacteria to kill. She thought about starting her on prednisone, but wants to wait for the blood work to come back, to rule out liver involvement. For now the best I can do is to keep her hydrated. Yes I did buy some pedialyte today. The gatorade was a quick fix as I was on my way out the door to go to work when I discovered she wasn't well. She did take the gatorade if I hid it in her duck soup. Now for the bowel, we are trying to replace some of the good bacteria, by feeding her a live culture yogurt. The vet recommended 2 different brands and I got the Astro. I bought several different flavors and she hates them all. However she will eat it if I hide it in her duck soup. Thank goodness I got them hooked on duck soup as a treat. It sure comes in handy when they are sick! It doesn't take much coaching to make them eat it and you can hide a world of nasties in it! Boy you have to be sneaky when you are a Mom! <VBG> The third and last thing we are doing is giving her children's kaopectate 3 times a day. The stools have slowed down some and she is sleeping a lot. I am giving her the duck soup with all of her treats hidden in it about every 2-3 hrs. All we can do is wait to hear about the blood work and take it from there. Myself, I've had about 3 hours sleep. It's a good thing I'm off for the week-end. I'll be able to get her over the worst of it. She is eating her kibble and is drinking some water on her own, but not nearly enough to keep her going. I'm hoping that will increase as she starts feeling better. Must go now, I have duck soup to Dr. up (tee hee). Sally St Germain and her 10 " Lillte Saints" Hi.....my name is Sally.....I am a ferret-a-holic!!!!! [Posted in FML issue 2851]