Hello everyone,
thank you so much for so many kind and supportive messages, from all
over the world. It's good to know there are so many ferret fans out
there.

Secondly, it has been drawn to my attention that there are a few
cultural differences which might cause some conflict. For a start, most
people in UK keep their ferrets outside and it is considered odd to
keep them indoors. In fact, some of the bigger rescue centres will not
rehome a ferret to be kept indoors and will argue that it is bad for
them (I have heard similar arguments from my Canadian friends about
dogs, and who knows, they might be right). This might have a large part
to do with the fact that British houses are often hot and cluttered --
we like our central heating on full blast 24/7 and our small rooms.
Woodgreen Animal Sanctuary insists on a minimum space of 60 sq ft, of
which half has to be under cover, and includes tunnels, multiple levels
and plenty of enrichment. If you Google "Ferret sheds" you'll see some
amazing set-ups.

Thirdly, the word shed has caused some confusion. In Britain, a shed
is usually a very small, wooden building in the garden, often used as
storage or to house plants waiting to go in the greenhouse etc. But we
use our sheds for all sorts of things. My mum's is a pottery studio, or
they can be garden rooms, or home offices and often people adapt them
to become dog kennels, hen houses or ferret houses or whatever, because
they're generally larger than the purpose built animal houses. Ours has
got cat towers, hammocks, tunnels, shelves, ladders, a ball pool and a
large open, pen area for them to go in and keep cool.

Incidentally, my vets are now convinced that the ferrets did not have
heat stroke. Yes, it did get hot in the shed one day, for an hour or
so, but they were free to come and go and their internal temperatures
were not high when they arrived at the vets minutes later. Also, the
thermometer was in the eaves of the shed, which is the hottest part,
which is not where the ferrets were sleeping. But those of you who have
had serious illness in your pets, you know how you blame yourself?

So I hope that clears up some misunderstandings. On to the update, we
have Emrys' autopsy result and the toxin hypothesis is now looking much
more likely. He had microscopic bleeding from every organ they tested.
But its looking like its a build up of a slow-acting toxin, not a
one-off poisoning by rat poisoning or whatever. Something, probably a
pesticide, has been affecting him. As we live in a farming area, I'm
worried, but I am trying not to speculate until we get the toxicology
report and we know what sort of toxin we're looking for. We're also
waiting for the Aleutian disease test results and the bacterialogical
results. My vet doesn't want to rule anything out at this stage.

Spike the ferret has been kept indoors, in a brand new hospital cage,
and appears to have made a remarkable recovery. However, we can't relax
as the others appeared to be better too, before they keeled over. Spike
isn't used to being indoors and its a little tricky to entertain him,
but we are hoping to borrow something more suitable if he continues his
improvement. Shadow the dog is also improving -- his temperature is
down and he ate a dinner of pilchards and dog kibble, plus too many
dog treats (he's lost so much weight, we're not worried -- provided he
doesn't get used to it). My challenge tomorrow is to get a urine sample
from him.

I'll keep you posted on our progress. Thanks for everyone's
suggestions, tips and support.

Anna Hayward

[Posted in FML 7798]