Hi all--
 
Geez, (hitting myself on the forehead) I forgot the most important part of
introducing ferrets.
 
And that is QUARENTINE.  It's a pain in the butt, but new ferrets (even
kits) should be quarentined from your other ferrets for at least 10 days.
You should then watch for food intake, stool appearance, and general health
appearance--bright eyes, long whiskers, maintaining weight, etc.  There are
many transmissable viruses, bacterias, etc, including distemper, which is
almost always fatal.  ECE and distemper are also airborne, though, so don't
purposely bring animals suspected to have these ailments into the house.
It seems that if your ferrets have had ECE, new ferrets who haven't been
exposed will almost positively get it.  And it hits the young and the old
very hard.  So if you've had ECE and want to give in to ferret math, look
for exposed ferrets.  If you haven't had ECE in your home, specifically ask
previous owners, breeders, whomever, if they know if a new ferret has been
exposed to ECE.  If they give you a dumb look they've probably never heard
of it (we haven't seen it here in Northern MN yet at all) but add that it's
also called the "green slime disease"--if they've dealt with it, they
should recognize the description, at least!
 
I quarentine shelter ferrets in my home--mostly making sure they don't have
contact with other ferrets or other ferrets' litter, food dishes, water
bottles, etc.  This means changing litter boxes between each playtime,
folks, or having play times in separate rooms.  If a new ferret comes with
dishes, water bottles, etc. it's also good to steralize these items before
using them with the other ferrets.
 
All right, that's all for now.
 
--Sheri M.
[Posted in FML issue 2476]