A viral disease, known as ECE (epizootic catarrhal enteritis) or
'green slime' disease, causes severe, watery diarrhea in mature
ferrets. Affected ferrets will become dehydrated in a few hours
and require veterinary care. If you cannot immediately get to a
veterinarian, get some PedialyteTM, an electrolyte solution made
for human infants and sold in grocery stores. Give the ferret as
much as you can get him to swallow, by scruffing him and gently
dripping the fluid into the corner of his mouth with a plastic
eye dropper. As a rough estimate, the ferret will need 10% of
his body weight (measured in grams) in balanced electrolytes
(measured in ml's) to replace fluid lost in watery diarrhea. An
average jill weighs 700 to 800 grams, and needs 70 to 80 ml of
electrolytes per day (28 ml = 1 oz). A male needs about twice as
much. Ferrets that are very dehydrated feel 'doughy': their skin
does not slide along their bodies as it usually does, and if you
pinch a fold of it, the fold will stay there when you let go.
The