>From:    Sukie Crandall <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: ?New disease(s?)?
>Please, note that we still do not know if the abberations people are seeing
>are one disease or multiple diseases, nor do we know if the what is being
>seen is something new, something known but rarely looked for, something
>which has modified (such as by not being as easily diagnosed, or by not
>being a easily treated with the usual meds, or by increasing its host
>options).  THE ONLY WAY WE ARE GOING TO GET ANSWERS IS IF PEOPLE DO THE
>NECROPSIES AND PATHOLOGY WORK NEEDED!!!!!!!
 
Well said Sukie--!!!!  That is what will save ferret lives in the long run.
INdeed-- we also encourage those who lose ferrets early in life for
unexplained reasons to PLEASE get pathology done-- this will help them and
others in the future.
 
We have been advocating quarantine in ferret shelters for years-- we were
set up that way.... and occassionally like with the starvation case Casper
( who is in surgery this morning) we can slip up too-- such was the case
with our shelters coccidia crisis last month.  For whatever reason a lot of
the green slime reports -- tend to have made me feel that there was far too
much for it to all be a mystery virus-- why every greenish stool folks and
vets scream ECE-- we have been insistant on doing multiple fecals to rule
out coccidia - and sometimes it takes a few weeks to really know (Caspers
took 5 tests to confirm) from experience I can tell you-- don't break your
quarantine rule or you will work yourself nearly to death!  :)
 
Sukie continued:
>One pathology report has come back as being coccidea....
>Coccidea is one excellent reason to have any new additions to your families
>receive fecal tests by vets BEFORE you put everyone together...
 
Yes indeed!!!!-- the wasting caused by coccidia could indeed result in
death.... We were lucky-- other shelter folks I urge you to set up
precautions--- and best wishes to you all shelters and ferret families
alike!
 
Alicia at Ferret Wise
 
PS-- Anyone in the New England Area who is interested in attending the
Seminar on Animal Cruelty--
The myths, the Misconceptions-- PLEASE contact me soon-- we are getting a
great response to this-- you won't want to miss it!
 
events listings
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~crassi/calendar.html
 
and our shelter page at
http://www.dartmouth.edu/~crassi/index.html
[Posted in FML issue 2435]