>From:    "Ferrets First Shelter, TX" <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: White Fang
>So, with those things said, let's think about ECE for a moment.  Consider
>this... White Fang came from an SPCA shelter.  How do we know where she came
>from before that??  How do we know she is not a carrier of ECE *already*??
>Oh, "Well, she came from Canada" you say, "and Canada doesn't have ECE".
 
I'm not entirely sure that I subscribe to this theory at all, as it seems
odd to me that a geographical border would prevent our ferrets from getting
what your ferrets get.  Just want to clarify that before I go on.  Although
... a friend of mine moved to the U.S.  from B.C.  with her five ferrets,
and adopted a few more there, one who came with ECE.  Oddly, all the ferrets
in her home were very ill, but her Canadians had no problems.
 
>First of all, this is no longer true!  There is ECE in Canada, most
>definitely.  Many cases known of, and many more ferrets across this country
>and Canada that have had such a mild case of ECE
 
I'm curious to know where you are getting this information from?  No, I am
not flaming you, I am genuinely curious.  You're pretty far from Canada, so
how do you know this information?
 
We have yet to have seen a case of ECE around here, and other clubs I
correspond with in Canada have not seen it either.  Although everytime we
have a mild virus or case of something run through our shelter, or another
group of ferrets, there are certain people on the FML who start screaming
ECE at me and telling me, from a country and several states away, that we
have ECE, based on the description of the problem.  They all tell me that
because I haven't seen it before, I don't know what it is.  I have seen it
before, although not in Canada, and that seems like a presumptuous and
arrogant thing to diagnose my ferrets' problems "without a doubt" as one
member told me, and disregard my own opinion on the matter.  Last time this
happened, it turned out to be *Campylobactor*.
 
There are a variey of viruses and bacteria and parasites that go along with
owning large numbers of animals - ask a breeder or kennel of any type of
animal, and they will tell you the same thing.
 
Just thought I should point this out before all the Canadians on the list
start panicking about having had ECE and not even knowing it.  Just because
I haven't heard of it here, doesn't mean it hasn't been here, and I don't
doubt that it's likely.  But I sure would like to know from whom you got
this information from, and where these confirmed cases of ECE are - after
all, we'd certainly like to protect our ferrets.
 
Sheena
Wherret Ferrets Halfway House and Ferretry
Ferret Association of Greater Vancouver
[Posted in FML issue 1667]