NINE!
 
Having been raised in retail I have to agree with the person who worked for
P&G in the past: if enough ferret and cat people make it obvious to the P&G
that there is a market for high-quality food which is easily obtained, the
people's brains will think "ka-ching ka-ching" and they'll try the approach
rather than reducing quality right off.  Someone want to post the 800
number and an e-mail address if available.  It would have to be concerted
effort with a LOT of ferret and cat people getting in touch.
 
For accurate ECE info: http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html and
http://www.ferretcentral.org, especially the first which is by veterinary
pathologist, Bruce Williams, the person who has possibly studied ECE more
than anyone else, and the one who first postulated that it caused by a
corona virus (with that coronavirus having been since firmly identified by
a fine researcher at Purdue if memory of location is okay).  Remember that
ECE can cause the intestines to have sections stripped of alveoli which can
leave the ferret vulnerable to either always having loose stools or getting
them at the slightest bit of stress, can induce colitis with similar
long-term results, can awaken secondary infections or leave the animal
vulnerable to them, etc.  (Also, remember that there are a wide range of
causes of runs -- ECE is only one -- so to think that a common and mild
thing is ECE is sort of like thinking that Beta Hemolytic Strep is Ebola.)
 
Cedar info: http://www.trifl.org/cedar.html which IS an academic article,
and which also goes into the situations in which individuals develop
problems with pine, although pine is an individual sensitivity and
therefore rarer as opposed to cedar.  There are 45 references in there,
too, to further support you!
 
Having some trouble with my connection so haven't checked these webpage
addresses for any changes.  Had problems immediately on receiving something
titled "Child Missing" maybe a week ago and am still cleaning up from it.
 
Obviously, I'm not a vet (repeat, repeat, repeat...) but that doesn't mean
that I can't use academic resources.  So can you.
 
We're big ones for x-raying when there's unexplained or bad coughing
(sometimes following up with ultrasound) to check for cardiomyopathy,
ascites from other causes, tumors, infections, etc.  It's made all
the difference for our guys sometimes and certainly saved Meteetsee's
life not many months back.
[Posted in FML issue 2991]