To Nancy Hartman concerning the HCG shots -
 
>I know the owners in question, and spoke with the mother for some time.  I can
>honestly say that they are the single most doting owners I have ever met.  (and
>that says a lot, given the people I know)  When
>Sneakers sneezed, she went to the vet.  (well, a bit of an exaggeration, but
>not much.)  They called for her vet appointment the day they
>noticed her going into heat.  She was not in heat any longer than
>2 - 2 1/2 weeks.
 
        Thank you for taking the time to bring more of the facts in this case to
light...
 
While this may be a one in a million case, HCG is not known to cause
anaphylaxis on any type of routing basis.  The ferret would have had to be
inoculated with the material or a similar material in order to be "primed" to
have that type of reaction.
 
And, as you say, the vet is a seasoned vet (not many vets have HCG lying
around if they'r not doing a fair amount of ferrets), so now the overdosage
theory is a lot less likely.
 
There are so many possibilities here that we'll probably never know what
happened. I can think of a number of things that could cause acute death within
the space of 36 hours in a ferret.   While it is suspicious that the HCG may
have played a role, being as that it was the last thing that was administered
before the animal was found dead, we'll never know, and I am always loathe to go
on record making unsubstantiated claims.  HCG is a very useful drug with a good
track record and has saved thousands of ferret lives.  (I am bigger fan of
spaying, though, but that's my own opinion.)
 
I hope that everything turns out okay on your home front.  The early
stages of the green diarrhea usually involved a profuse watery diarrhea, so
you're probably in good shape.  Along those lines - we will be starting research
into the green diarrhea in the next few weeks.  If you are aware of anyone in
your association who has had problems with the green diarrhea, I am looking for
A)frozen feces from acutely ill animals, and B) serum from recovered animals.
The first stages of the research will not involve any live animals at all.
 
Thanks.
 
Bruce Williams, DVM                 Department of Veterinary Pathology
[log in to unmask]         Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (202)
576-2453/2454                 Washington, D.C.  20306-6000
 
[Posted in FML issue 0952]