First of all, PLEASE don't flame me as I'm having a very hard time right
now!!!  As I've told everyone on the list, I just recently opened a ferret
shelter in Blacksburg, VA.  As far as I knew my ferrets had never been
exposed to ECE and neither had the ferrets that are currently residing
in my care as shelter residents.  Noone has ever shown signs for it so I
didn't think it was a problem in my home.  Two weeks ago someone found a
tiny female ferret and surrendered her to me.  She was a little thin but
otherwise was in excellent health.  Tuesday night I noticed the dreaded
green slime poop.  She had just come out of quarantine a few days before
that and I had put her with the other ferrets for playtime.  I began to
watch her very closely and monitor her food and water intake.  After a few
hours I realized that she definitely was not eating on her own so I made
up some mushy food for her and had to force feed her.  Within 12 hours she
became very dehydrated so I also started giving her water with a syringe.
I decided last night that she was going to go to the vet first thing this
morning so I stayed up most of the night with her.  At about 4 am she
actually drank alot of water and ate some mushy food from my hand on her
own!!  Thinking that she was getting better, I decided to hold off on the
vet.  When I woke up this morning and checked on her, she was even more
lethargic and wouldn't eat or drink again.  So I immediately rushed her
to the vet where she is now.  I refreshed my memory last night by reading
about ECE (something I haven't done in a few months).  All of the symptoms
that Althea shows go along with ECE, so I'm almost positive that's what she
has.  If she hadn't been so thin in the first place, she probably wouldn't
have gotten so sick.  So here's my question...what do I do as a shelter
now that I've been exposed to ECE?!?!?  I am VERY upset over all of this
and I feel it's my fault that Althea is sick.  I should have known that my
ferrets had been exposed....Would it be wrong for me to continue to run
the shelter??  I would hate to have to close down after only 3 months.
PLEASE!!!  I need good advise in this matter and no flaming!!
 
Just to let everyone know, Opal is still chewing my hands up everytime I
play with her.  I know it's going to take a long time for her to get over
the biting and that's not a problem.  I am no longer scruffing her when
she bites and I'm going to continue using the gloves and hissing for a few
weeks and see if that makes any progress with her.  Keep your fingers, toes
and tails crossed!!  I will let everyone know if anything changes!
 
And on the subject of deaf ferrets...I tested my little panda girl (Julie)
the other day and I have confirmed that she is deaf!  She is the only
ferret that I have that will give me kisses as long as I will let her.
She also enjoys biting my arms and sides every now and then but she
always kisses afterwards to make up for it!  :-) She's my little angel!!
 
Dooks to all,
Kim Sharp
NRV Exotic Animal Rescue/Shelter
http://www.geocities.com/nrvexotics/
 
Check out my items on Ebay!!  All proceeds go straight to the shelter!!
[log in to unmask]" target="_blank">http://cgi6.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewListedItems&[log in to unmask]
 
Or go to Igive and help raise money by clicking away!!!
http://www.iGive.com/html/refer.cfm?memberid=64391&causeid=12842
[Posted in FML issue 3126]