Well, spending a long time hankering after a silver mitt, I finally went to
the Milwaukee shelter and adopted 2 lovely little girls.  They were there
b/c their owners were moving, and they had yucky names.  I renamed them
Fleurette (french for little flower) and Lucy.  They are 2 yrs and 3 yrs,
although I'm not sure which is which.
 
Unfortunately, they brought ECE w/ them.  I knew it was a risk, since the
shelter had been hit.  I got them on a Saturday, and noticed Lucy still
wasn't eating on Sunday eve.  Trip to vet Mon., diagnosed as having an
ulcer.  By Tues.  eve, Fleurette and my 2 boys, HodgePodge and Portnoy, had
the "ulcer".  It's amazing how far down your heart can sink when you realize
that you are dealing w/ this dreaded virus (or whatever, I understand that
Dr.Williams still isn't sure if it's a virus?)
 
Rudy the Ferlosopher: I've been quoting you, when you said "A sick ferret is
a drain on the soul".  Indeed!  It's been a very sad and silent apartment
for a little over a week.  They are on Metronizidole and Amoxi every 12 hrs.
The Metron makes them foam at the mouth, and they all spit all over me and
my husband.  Fleurette needs to be restrained for a few minutes after the
Metron b/c she scratches the inside of her mouth w/ her claws.
 
Lucy adores the Amoxi.  Also the a/d + nutrical, and so while everyone else
is back on solid food, eating on their own, she still has to be force-fed --
if you can call it "force", w/ her eagerly lapping up the food from the
syringe.  *sigh* I'm thinking of mixing the Metron w/ it to make it taste
bad, maybe then she'll start eating on her own.
 
Everyone is getting better, and yesterday Fleurette did some normal ferret
things for the 1st time since I got her last weekend.  She danced a bit,
she stole a sock, and she bit me on the foot (I later discovered she was
trying to pull my sock off.  No sock, no foot biting.  Yes, I'm barefoot
right now!)
 
Lucy likes a squeeky toy newspaper, but Portnoy keeps taking it from her.
:-/  I'm going to buy her one of her own, I think.
 
So Lucy weighs 1.3 pounds, and Fleurette 1.6 pounds.  They look almost like
kits next to my 2.5 lb boys.  Has anyone had any luck fattening up bony
ferrets?
 
Nancy Farlow: I have returned upstairs (where ferrets and computers are) to
find mine on, w/ a document now named "lkkkkdsssssss".  I have 2 macs, and
I think the ferrets deliberately turn them on to hear the start-up chime.
(My cats often hit the playback button on the answering machine to listen
to the messages, and also hit the button that makes the outgoing message
play so that they can hear my husband's voice).
 
Anyway, now I especially really truly admire the shelter people who've had
to deal w/ ECE in lots of shelter ferrets.  I have been very lucky - this
was a weaker strain, lasting only 1 week of diarhhea, vomit and lethary
symptoms.  Also, Dorothy Moehr, the shelter lady, was wonderful w/ checking
up on the ferrets, giving me advice and encouragement.  Chris Haas, a
ferret friend of mine, has also been incredible w/ the advice and
encouragement, and calling people for me to see if it actually was ECE and
how badly the shelter had experienced it.
 
Take care, and give all your healthy ferrets a kiss for me.  All sick
ferrets get my deepest sympathy.
        Carol-Anne, HodgePodge & Portnoy(male sables),Fleurette &
Lucy(female silver mitts - the newbies)
[Posted in FML issue 1279]