>I have a question.  Early in the spring my fuzzies contacted Coccidia.
>We think my husband carried it in on his shoes, as he works around
>apartments with lots of trees, bird droppings.  Got it all cleared up.
>
>Two days ago I noticed foul smelling stools, one stool bright green.  I
>caught the one doing the green poop this morning, took a fresh sample to
>the Purdue Vet school.  They've got coccidia again.  I've been trying to
>make certain no one wears their 'street shoes' into the ferret's area.
>
>The vet I spoke with said ferrets can carry coccidia like a protozoa in
>their intestines and it can flare up.  Is this true?  Tomorrow I get the
>meds and get to work again on all of them.
 
First off, if it truly coccidia (you would think that a university
wouldn't have any problem, but I have seen a lot of normal yeasts
misdiagnosed as coccidia), then the theory of getting it from birds,
trees, dogs, cats, etc.  is not a viable one.  Coccidia are fairly
species-specific, and ferret will only pick up coccidia from other
mustelids.  Now they may ingest oocysts from other species, such as
dogs and cats, which will come out in the stool, but do not set up a
propagating infection.
 
Remember that the oocyst (infective egg) stage of the coccidia (Yes, they
ARE protozoa.) can live outside the body for quite a while, and resists
drying.  They can get in cracks and crevices of cages, etc.  and bide
their time until ingested by a naive ferret, and the cycle starts over
again.  This is more likely than coccidia living on in the intestine of a
treated ferret.
 
And, most coccidia outbreaks have more than one affected animal....
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 3575]