Dear Marion:
 
>I am co-manager of a shelter, and I keep some at my place, and the other
>woman keeps some at her place.  About 3 weeks ago one of the ferrets -
>Harley - had really bad diarreha and was vomiting, I brought him into the
>vet and after a two day stay it was determined that he had coccidia.
>
>(For those of you who don't know what it is - an intestinal parasite that
>is - are you ready ?  - CONTAGIOUS!!!  So, he went into isolation for 14
>days, while he was on his meds.
 
>However, it is now a week later, and Harley is showing the same
>symptoms.  I am bringing him into the vet in a couple of hours.  I was
>wondering if anyone knows more information on coccidia - have they ever
>run into this kind of situation?  Is there something that I am missing?
>I also have two cats and their litter box is scooped twice daily... I am
>at a complete loss as to how he "got it back" when he was in isolation,
>he had his meds, etc.... and my place is being cleaned and disinfected on
>a very regular basis.
 
No need to panic just yet.  Coccidia is indeed an intestinal parasite -
the organisms infect the lining of the intestine and go through a period
of life stages in 14 days, culminating with the passage of infective eggs
(which if your other ferrets ingest, will make them ill as well.)  The
most common forms of coccidia that we see in ferrets rarely cause
life-threatening infections (except in the very young and very old),
although they can really sock up your time combating them.
 
The most common reason that coccidia will infect an entire household is
that early infections show minimal signs, and the facility has a system of
common litterboxes, utilization of common sponges and buckets to clean each
cage in succession, etc.  In this fashion, the eggs - which are resistant
to chemical disinfection, are spread from cage to cage.  It seems as if
spread is unlikely in your house, but remain vigilant.
 
Regarding the apparent relapse, there is actually two possibilities.  The
first is if there was not a complete eradication of infection.  This is not
uncommon, and will take another cycle of treatment - annoying, but no big
deal.  The second possibility is that the treatment was successful, the
coccidia were eradicated, but that there was enough damage done to the
stomach that he can not well digest his food today.  A similar thing
happens in some cases of ECE - animals are not re-infected, but the loss of
surface area in the intestine is so great that kibble cannot be digested,
and that a malabsorptive syndrome occurs, and diarrhea recurs.  In most
cases, the intestine will regenerate itself over time.
 
Finally, the most important thing to do at this time is to get that
followup fecal done.  We've got to find out if the infection is over before
we know how to proceed and what to expect.  The cat's can't get it -
although they can ingest and pass the eggs through their system - they
cannot pick up this form of coccidiosis.
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
[Posted in FML issue 3266]