I apologize for my miswording on my post about the euthanizing of the
possible distemper ferret. I didn't realize what I had wrote until it
was already published. I literally was not sleeping all week, if I
could sleep at all, in 1 hour naps, but usually I would just lie there
and not be able to sleep.

So I meant to write more about his doing downhill on Friday - that
would have been the primary reason for putting him down and I should
have added "if he gets worse". He stopped wanting to eat and drink as
much, and instead of his back legs getting better, he refused to stand
at all when supported, and it was extending to the rest of him. He
started to go downhill even worse.

For the person who asked about the tests - there are several tests labs
can do, such as blood smears to look for inclusions, and other things -
but only one real definitive test, and that is a PCR. The test results
would not come back for at least a week or more due to the 4-7 day
time it takes. All the other tests can include false negatives and
also titers may not be a good indicator if the lab does not look for
the right type of antibody. I called a lot of vets for info on which
antibody they look for, and none got back to me in time for the
weekend.

He is doing okay. The discoloration on his nose went from light brown
to dark and then started having a weird crust from top to bottom and
he still has it, although I've been putting Mometamax on the parts he
can't lick with his nose - the same med that has antifungals in it
(kind of like Animax). The crusting has stopped progressing. It is
not near his nostrils and is not discharge. It can't be washed off
or softened enough to pick it off. We are getting a scraping done on
Monday. I wonder if it is the same thing that he has on his side, "wet
dermatitis" which the vet who saw him wasn't sure about. If you have
ever eaten a dutch crunch roll, his side was entirely covered in an
orange crust that very much resembled in both feel, texture, and color,
the "crunch" on top of one of those rolls. We'll find out Monday was
the heck is on his nose.

If it was distemper I believe he would have continued to crash on
Saturday but thankfully his guardian angel helped him and he went from
being a limp noodle on Friday (previously he could at least crawl!) to
suddenly waking up and standing and walking out of his pen.

The Mometamax seems to have stopped the crust from getting bigger on
his nose.

While this did not present as a classic case of distemper - I was
concerned - and from a lot of pictures I was sent of confirmed cases,
many of those ferrets did not end up with red rashes or were let go
before it got to that point. However, throughout the week the concern
has lessened and I have had many vets, shelter moms, and owners talk
to me on the phone and through emails, sending pictures or talking to
me (a nervous wreck and zombie case), giving their information to me
freely. Everyone knows who you are - and all the owners as well who
called and supported me not vaccinating my older ferrets - I know there
are differing views on vaccination. I did not get one single negative
email for having ferrets that were unvaccinated. The ferret community
seems to be split 50/50 on it. Everyone here except for him was
vaccinated on Friday. I have a lot of "lumps" and some with red rashes
from the shot, and some constipation and diarrhea, but no one had any
anaphylactic shock. All were pretreated with oral Benadryl, dye free.

I would like to also thank the two ferret in my area. There was a
misunderstanding between myself and one of them - I thought I was being
called to pick him up from the shelter for their club, and was going to
pass him along to them. After asking if they could pay his first vet
bill while I held on to him until he could be transported, we realized
that was not the agreement and he became my club's ferret officially.
Unfortunately that first club I thought I was picking up for, was left
out of the loop due to me not calling their President back (I was
barely sleeping, eating, out of it taking care of him constantly as he
couldn't walk and needed help to go potty, baths, encouragement to eat,
flushing maggot wounds, etc.). So they called and offered to pay for
him to go to the vet when they hadn't heard about him getting care a
few days later, concerned. Another miscommunication, but it was also
straightened out. Thank you to everyone who was involved.

He has had a lot of people looking out for him all over. I am so
grateful to everyone. I know there are classic cases of CDV, and not
so classic. Being scared like this is not fun. And I have learned more
about distemper than I ever thought I could. As a lot of you suggested,
I did contact Jenny, who lost so many to this disease, but had
survivors who have normal lives now. Thank you everyone for looking out
for Ralphie.

His toes - for everyone who has seen his pictures and said "ouch" - the
scabs are not getting better, but with time they will fall off. One did
already, but the others seem much deeper. I cannot imagine what he
looked like with maggots on him. When I picked him up from the shelter,
they didn't release meds or anything and technically "accidently"
released him although he was somehow cleared to go - he had been bathed
but there was still a lot of dead tissue on him. It looked like small
dog bite that had been infected. It was the first time I had seen a
ferret with maggot wounds.

He is heading to the vet on Monday. The others are sick but it looks
like it is a flu spreading. My cats have gotten sick too, but only for
a day and a half of sneezes and one day of wet, drippy runny noses. Now
they are fine. I have ferrets still sick in the other room, after I
spent last night with them, I noticed a few more who are also coming
down with the same thing.

Laryssa

[Posted in FML 6413]