For those of you following the continuing saga of Toby (the ferret
with two sets of anal sacs):  Toby died sometime during the night
of April 8th/9th (Fri/Sat).  Absolutely no warning whatsoever - he was
his normal bouncy klutzy self before going to bed.  We took his body to the vet
Monday and the vet did an autopsy.  A number of things are now explained:
he had Thymic Lymphosarcoma - his thymus gland had run wild, encapsulating
his heart and lungs, and the tumor had invaded his spleen causing it to enlarge.
His spleen ended up larger than his liver before it ruptured sometime Friday
night or Saturday morning and he bled to death into his abdomen.  We have some
consolation in that it was painless - he would have gone to sleep due
to the blood-loss shock and simply not woken up.  He looked peacefull.
 
Apparently, this is one of the outcomes of a disease that is seen occasionally
in ferrets (this is our vet's third instance in five years), and is
effectively the Ferret version of Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV).  FeLV is a
nasty virus which is capable of causing a number of severe disorders (going
from a Norden Labs pamphlet):
 
        Cancers:
                Blood Cell Cancers:
                        Leukemia
                        Reticuloendotheliosis
                        Erythremic Myelosis
                Lymphosarcomas:
                        Intestinal
                        Thymic          (Toby)
                        Lymphoid
 
        Associated Diseases:
                Respiratory Disease
                Infectious Peritonitis
                Reproductive Failure
                Panleukopenia-like Syndrome
                Fading Kitten Syndrome
 
This often involves immune system problems - which explains Toby's infections
after his descenting surgery.  For this reason FeLV is often considered
"Feline AIDS".
 
Our vet says that Toby was relatively lucky - his other two cases resulted
in a long deterioration phase before they were put down.  This is the first
case that he had heard of that was so quick.
 
Veterinarian literature indicates that the Feline FeLV test sometimes
shows positive with infected Ferrets, but the results are inconclusive.
It's unknown whether the Ferret virus is exactly the same as FeLV.  Our
vet ran a FeLV test on a sample of Toby's blood out of professional
curiousity.  It was positive.
 
A positive in a cat primarily means that the cat has currently
got an active infection of the virus, and has a roughly 30 percent chance
of developing the outcomes shown in the above list.  A negative result
in a cat means that either there has never been an infection or that the
virus is currently dormant.  In the latter case there is a very remote
chance that the virus will reactivate.  So, it looks like we're going
to keep our ferrets isolated from everyone else's at least for a while.
 
According to our vet, this virus is relatively non-virulent.  It dies
very quickly outside of its host, and the infection rate to other ferrets
is relatively low.  The FeLV virus is known to be very easily destroyed
by household soaps, detergents and cleansers.
 
He also mentioned that it is very rare - the drug companies have a tendancy
to exaggerate the risk (for obvious reasons).  The pamphlet on FeLV refers
to very crowded conditions (eg: catteries) or stressed/sick animals being the
things that put cats at risk.  Even in catteries (or ferret colonies) the
infectiousness is pretty low and most animals will not develop it.
 
Toby always was in a cage by himself.  Our vet (and us too) seem to think
that Toby caught it (or inherited it) at the breeder.  And that our
other two ferrets are probably safe.
 
The FeLV vaccination for cats has not been shown to be of any use in Ferrets.
 
One of our other ferrets, Nicia, had been having some gagging problems and
had lost some weight.  Understandably, the first thing we thought of was
Toby.  Our vet originally thought that it was simply a cold or flu, but
decided in light of Toby to see her anyways.  It looks like Nicia simply
has an upper throat infection (swollen tonsils).  Our vet did use the FeLV
test on her but it was negative.  This certainly isn't conclusive, but
is reassuring.  She's now on Raspberry flavoured antibiotics (she'll like
that!).  She will eat provided that the food is watered a lot - even
fresh from the can C/D causes her throat too much pain.
 
It looks as if we'll take our third ferret and my sister-in-law's ferret
in for the FeLV test too - it will have some reassurance value at least.
                                                                          
[Posted in FML 0016]