Hi All..  Judy Benner (of the Lehigh Valley Ferret Club and Rescue)
sent hardcopies of all the newsletters to Pam Grant (of Pet Pals) and
Pam sent her responses and comments to some of the newsletter articles
to Judy who sent them to me to send to you.  :)  Got that?
 
[I took the liberty of correcting "Alutian" to "Aleutian".  Drove
me nuts ;-)]
 
   First one was issue # 153.  From Nancy Hartman to "Chris". Sub.,
Aleutians Disease. Dr K. has made a hobby out of testing ferrets for
it. At LAFF show 1990, all ferrets tested there for Aleutians only
one tested positive.
 
   Same issue to the Crandalls re: a little sickly looking ferret
from the fun fest, with David having been the cage mate, This was
Pam Grants ferret. The ferrets name was Camille, now mouse, and she
still does not have fur on her tail, but the gal that "took her
home" for a few days still has her and she is part of the family.
The three ferrets in the household "appeared" on top of the wedding
cake (in miniature form) along with the bride and groom at their
wedding this past June.
 
   About hair loss, could cushings be present so long without
showing symptoms? Pams answer: Yes, Test for thyroid and estrogen
levels and cut out Linatone. Yes a ferret can be patchy and then
stark naked. I've two fully furred ferrets had the left adrenal
tumors removed and are fine now (Cushings/Adrenal) and one
completely naked except for head, tail and legs. Her vulva is now
starting to swell, a sur sign of estrogen overproduction.
 
    OK, Still Pams notes and still on Aleutians: "With 65 ferrets in
the house and 2 "pet" minkthat run loose in the housewhen ferrets
are away, I'm really pho-phooing the contagious side of the illness.
It's viral, not in the stool per se. A positive on the test does not
mean the ferret has Aleutians. They CANNOT test directly for
Aleutians, just around it. Rabies and or canine distemper shots can
set a false positive too. I would test again in 6 months and if 2
positives, not breed the ferret if whole. Otherwise don't worry, it
really is not as deadly as Dr. K. makes out." She continues," I
don't test my ferrets for Aleutians because there is nothing that can
be done. If the mink suddenly die, I'll have THEM tested, but so far
the health in the house is fine. Mink and ferrets DO NOT play
together."
 
[Suggestion: write her parts as if she was writing it, just
prepend her lines with a ">".  Little easier to follow]
                                                                          
[Posted in FML 0159]