Help Finding Genes In Other Species (Entrez and SPLIGN) - (May/12/2015 )

I haven't used the NCBI site for years and I'm having difficulty finding gene sequences so that I can put the genomic and cDNA entries into SPLIGN. I have to find the sequence from gene symbols and/or names that I have, then I hope to find these in another species. I repeatedly find no similarity, I must be doing something stupid and probably obvious!

I need genomic and cDNA sequences for genes of interest. I start by typing in the gene symbol or name to search in all databases, and then click on nucleotide entries. When I then BLAST these entires against the species I want to find that gene in, I get no results even though the species has it's entire genome sequenced so I know the information is available. How can I find the information I need to find the number of exons etc in different species? I need to know the first and last exon, take that section and enter this into SPLIGN. 

Try looking on the Genecards website for the proper names of genes (they list synonyms), then looking up the refseq (usually linked directly from genecards). That should at least give you the cDNA sequence.