I just wanted to tell everyone that I am new in the ferret rescue business.
I have only been doing it for about 45 days and I love it.  I have had 3
healthy rescues that I have found loving homes for after their vet checks
and then my fourth rescue was kinda sick and my volunteer fell in love with
him, took him to the vets and then decided to keep him. :)  My problem is
that I got a e-mail and a phone call from a lady yesterday (last Friday)
who wanted me to come and get her ferret.....so off I went.  It was a two
hour drive there and a two hour drive back.....man was I tired! :)  Here is
the deal........the ferret is a four yr. old female that has been spayed.
She was in a large cage alone with no water and only a few pieces of cat
food....cheap ass cat food from what the woman said.  The litter box was
filled with kitty litter (BAD LITTER).  She has had this ferret for the
full four years and she said that she had never given it any hairball
remedy or anything.  She also said that they rarely ever let it out of it's
cage for exercise.  :( This little female was very energetic, but scrawny
and dirty.  She has a bald spot about the size of a quarter on the back of
her neck.  Her vulva is very enlarged and white (pale).  My first thought
is of course Adrenal Disease.  She said that the ferret has been like this
for about 7 months.  What I want to know from all of you that deal with
ferrets so much also is.......is this Adrenal Disease or is it possible
that she is just this way from such bad care all these years??  Could she
be allergic to the kitty litter which might have caused her vulva to swell
or maybe an allergic reaction to the cats, dogs, and birds this lady had
her in the room with?  Is there any other thing that would cause these
symptoms besides the Adrenal Disease?  I am so afraid that I haven't even
let her in the same room with my own babies just incase this is something
spreadable.  When we got her and the cage home we had to scrub everything
down.  The cage had never been washed and had dried gunk on every bar of
the cage.  The water bottle was so.....well we just threw it away and used
one of our spares.  It was a mess.  What a shame.  She is really cute.  The
lady said that she ate and drank like a pig all the time and that she has
always pooped normal.  Now that she is here she is still eating very good
and drinking plenty and pooping good.  Well what does everyone think about
this??  Now today it has been around 5/6 days since I rescued Cleo and I
have kept her in a separate cage in a different room away from my personal
ferrets (my babies).  Here is a new problem besides the one I mentioned
above.....last night one of my babies ran into Cleo's (sick ferret) room
and was sniffing her through the cage bars.  I grabbed him and took him out
of the room.  Now this morning when I went in to check on Cleo her litter
box had a medium greenish colored slime pile in it.  I have never
personally seen the ECE poopies for myself and I am thinking that maybe
that is what is was????  She has had a normal stool up until this morning
and I haven't given her anything different to eat or drink.  Now I am not
only worried about Cleo having the ECE, but what about my ferret that was
sniffing her and her cage and then I grabbed him and put him back in his
cage with my other four personal ferrets????  Did I just contaminate them
all now???  Someone please help!!  Is this Adrenal Disease or more of a
allergy type thing?  Does this sound like ECE and if so did I just spread
it from her to my own babies??  If this is ECE.... does that have anything
at all to do with her hair loss and vulva swelling?  I guess I am just
trying to find other explanations for this hair loss/vulva swelling thing
because I hate to see Adrenal Disease in a ferret.  :( Thanks for any
information you can give me.  :) Michelle
[Posted in FML issue 2662]