Hi all,
 
Re: Vomitting and ECE (the "greenies")
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
My 4 ferrets came down with the greenies in October of 1994 and it lasted
through December.  I unfortunately picked it up at the Milwaukee Ferret
Shelter during a time where there ferrets were in an extremely volitile
stage, and must have been shedding the virus rapidly.  The shelter didn't
know they had it yet, and I just stopped by for about 15 minutes to donate
some food.  I think the virus goes in stages, and at that point, right
before the full break-out, the virus must be extremely strong and contagious
because I was away from my ferrets for over 24 hours (and although I didn't
take a shower during that time, I did change my clothes - except my shoes),
and still the virus lived on me long enough to infect my ferrets.  Although
they will be carriers of the virus for life, the disease is not nearly as
contagious in its later stages.
 
Anyways, I had the virus from October through December.  My 6 month old
was in contact with the virus daily, but showed no signs of it at all, no
loss of appetite, no green poop...  My two 3 years olds were running fevers
and I was force feeding them with duck soup.  My 6.5 year old was by far
the sickest, I don't know how she ever pulled through!  I went to the shelter
on Sat around 11am for 15 minutes.  Then I stayed by my sister, and came
home to the ferrets around 3pm on Sunday.  By midnight my oldest was sick,
but I didn't notice until morning when I found her vomitting violently,
and then notice the green very mucousy stools.  That was 8am Monday.  By noon,
my two 3 year olds were sick, and my 6 month old never showed any signs.
 
So, out of 4 of my ferrets, only one vomitted and only at the very beginning
of the illness.  Btw, I was force feeding her every 3-4 hours around the
clock and doing subcutaneous fluids (20 mL, twice a day - every 12 hours).
 
Re:  "Hawkeye"  - TV program
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
On Saturday, I believe, I was channel surfing as I was eating lunch, and
came across this TV show called Hawkeye.  It wasn't something I'd normally
be interested in,  but this guy was running through the woods and stopped
to pick up this "wild animal" which happened to be a very soft and good
looking sable ferret (the guy who picked up the ferret never made a
reference to what type of animal this "should" be).  Anyways, the guy then
put some noise makers (animal teeth or something) around the ferret so the
ferret would make noise while he ran.  That was supposed to distract the bad
guy.  The ferret looked very healthy.  That was the last scene of the ferret,
which was good.  I was expecting the ferret to jump up in the end and grab
the bad guys neck and kill him or something.  I was very glad they didn't
do that.
 
Chris & Co.  (Ferrets:  Scooter, Nina, Tavi Bear, & Bailey Nutmeg)
             (Cat:      Georgie)
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[Posted in FML issue 1264]