In regards to Shari's  question about ferrets with giardia-
At the veterinary clinic I work at (which is a "cat hospital" but we also
see many ferrets as well as rabbits, etc) we routinely check fecals for
giardia, which I understand most vets do not do.  We very commonly find
giardia in ferrets, much more so than cats.  We've also found that it tends
to be sick ferrets that we find it in and rarely healthy ones.  This seems
to be true even if the ferrets are treated for giardia (we use Valbazen),
and almost never is related to diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms.
We've kind of unofficially concluded that most ferrets probably are carriers
of giardia (which is a protozoan infection) but only actively shed the
protazoa when stressed by illness or other reasons.  So in response to
Shari's question about the safety of a ferret with giardia being shown (I
believe that was the issue), from my experience I wouldn't worry about it,
as long as that ferret isn't sick (in which case I'd be more worried about
transmitting other infections more than giardia).  Just my two cents worth!
 
    Jamie
[Posted in FML issue 2051]