What is her white cell count like?  That is very important.  Is there an
enlarged node or cellulitis (which will appear like melted muscle tissue)
near a node?  Is there sepsis?
 
Take a look at the ferrets who have had the current mystery disease/
Disseminated Idiopathic Myositis (DIM) .  See ferrets like Clara,
Chiclet, Beeker, and others in
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org
 
If your vet thinks this is what is being encountered or you see multiple
reasons to think that may be it contact me and I will forward the contact
info for the two research teams to you for your vet to contact directly.
There are several things which look like this, but better to catch one
than not.  There so far is no proven effective treatment for this
disease, though there is a vet who might have a cured one from what
others say and everyone is waiting to see if there is the pathology
evidence to show that it was this disease rather than something that just
looks similar.  There also is a chemo approach being tried which might
help.  (Things which can look like this disease but aren't include other
causes of sepsis, canine distemper, lymphoma, meningitis, etc.) Some
things to look for: on and off fevers of 105'F and above, sepsis, sepsis
related anemia, cellulitis (not in all but pretty common), one or two
nodes become massively enlarged (not in all) -- to the point where a leg
may be thrust out and unusable -- in just a matter of hours or less but
unlike lymphoma there do not tend to be a lot of nodes usually, muscle
tissue pathology since this seems to be a disease of muscle, sometimes
skin ulcerations which are hypothesized to perhaps be from the erector
muscles becoming diseased, etc.  These ferrets usually retain an appetite
but have difficulty eating without help, and are incredibly weak.  The
hopes are to find a treatment and to find what it is in order to know how
to stop it and how to better treat it.  Cases are few and survival is
unlikely.  (I am sorry; I know what it is like.  Chiclet had it.)  There
is on-going refinement of chemo approaches which have had the best
effects so far.  A member of one team is working to see if a veterinary
epidemiologist can be gotten involved.  Both teams are using different
approaches so it is best for both to get tissue because that gives the
highest chance of eventual success, which is what ultimately matters
most.
 
Be sure to read the write-up in:
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc
 
That can also be found at the AFA site:
http://www.ferret.org/
 
That is due for an update, and one has been promised after a few things
get answered, so hopefully that will be any day, but there is no way to
know.
 
There is a lot of confusion out there about these ferrets and due to
people mistakenly lumping in things that turned out to be other diseases
or not following some individuals to the conclusions there is a lot of
wrong info about symptoms and survival.
 
***** I am NOT saying that your ferret has this! *****
 
I am saying that from the bits I've read my inclination is to think it
***** might be a possibility***** , whereas due to what has been said
privately about a different ferret with some similar symptoms a vet in
one of the research teams (both of which I am in regular contact with)
I asked said that it may be possible but lympho seemed more likely but
the only way to know for either is to test, i.e. it is NOT anywhere near
being an easy call, and the only way to know is to have the pathology
done.  It can be identified with a high degree of accuracy from some
signature changes it makes to tissue and in CBC with Chemistry Panel
that are seen in pathology.
 
Forgive me if I have forgotten some particulars of Me-Me or confused them
with a different ferret's.  I normally get 50 to (glack!) sometimes as
many as 150 mails on any given day, so not only can I not get to all of
them but some ferrets' descriptions can meld into other's depending on
spacing and similarities.  Add on to that the reality that I am not a vet
so I realize that is a limitation on my part, and use that grain of salt
which is needed by doing your own reading into this to see what YOU and
your vet think.
 
Again, if it may be a fit let me know to send you that contact info for
your vet.  (This is how some of the vets prefer it being handled and it
is their call to make, not mine...)
[Posted in FML issue 4788]