Hi, Everyone,

Something has swept through our shelter with devastating effect.  We
still don't know what hit us but we lost several elders before it began
to back off so I'm posting this as a warning and wondering if anyone
else is seeing something similar.

I think that a ferret must have come in as a carrier, no symptoms in
anyone new at the time.  Some elders developed nasty poop (green,
slimy, awful odor, shades of ECE), others just quickly lost weight,
developed clear, liquid stools, and became dehydrated quickly.  At
least four elders progressed from nasty stool to the black sticky stool
that goes with gastric bleeding.  All of these died despite carafate,
hydration, and everything else we could think of.  No one had the
classic crusting typical of distemper.

The first one that looked ill went to Dr. Kolich. as soon as we noticed
changes.  Dr. K. did not isolate anything bacterial, hydrated him with
IV fluids and gave IV antibiotics, pulled him through and we brought
him home on Noxell subq and liquids and the pepto/amox/reglan protocol.
 He picked up and looked better, began eating soup, but developed a
nasty runny rash that I thought was probably the antibiotics.  We took
him off the Noxell and he went straight downhill.

One died for no apparent reason that I could see, was simply gone in
the AM, no symptoms, no cage mates ill nor have they been since.  Dr.
K's post picked up no gross problems except maybe some thinning of
intestinal lining.  Another that had been dumped on our front porch the
week before this showed up, looked really good initially, caged alone. 
A couple of days after she arrived she began to lose energy and pads
and gums suddenly became white although there was no blood in stool or
anywhere that I could see.  She obviously exsanguinated but I don't
know how.

This is a strange entity.  It must be infectious but we also lost 3
whose cagemates never showed a thing and who are alive and well today. 
Nor did this affect those in cages next to one another.  We do have
physical barriers between cages and try to be careful about cleaning. 
And some of our elders that I expected to become ill did not.  At least
one older ferret who obviously came from a life of abuse, is skin and
bones and naked, has survived the illness and is gaining.

We took one in, early in the game before I realized what was happening,
but after the initial case.  He had been picked up in rural
Leavenworth. He had no symptoms, was full of energy, but he developed
nasty greenish, yellowish stools with mucus after about 4 days here. 
Dr. K. found him negative for parvo and just about anything else but
did send stool to the lab and they identified coccidia.  We immediately
began treating everyone with suspicious stool with Albon (and I also
threw in carafate before feedings, pepto, reglan and amox.)  I did not
give flagyl as they just hate it, I was very concerned about gastric
ulcers, and Dr. Williams has recommended that we not force it because
of the stress.  This foundling is now fully recovered, having great
stools, eating kibble and soup like mad.  Another found separately but
in the same area appears to be fine (he never came into the shelter as
the people who found him managed to find a home for him).

Everyone is asymptomatic now, great poops everywhere.  I've backed off
from 4 feedings a day to 2.  We are going through lots of Purell for
hands between cages, using a bleach solution soak for scoops between
boxes and on the floor.  They had no shared playpen or play time at all
for a couple of days until they finally got to me with all the cage
banging and sad faces.  Now I put their own litter boxes in the playpen
with them and clean in between.  And no new cases for a week and a
half.

I suspect that we had more than one illness, that the coccidia took
advantage of some vulnerability brought on by the original illness,
whatever it was.  So I'm posting this warning to the FML and am
prepared to take my licks, as I'm sure that some will have more than
just advice about how we should have handled this.

We also had a couple of emergency intakes that we managed to keep on
the front porch until we could get someone to come for them (one spent
overnight out there, weather was warm, and a pair that were in a
neglect situation only had to stay here a couple of hours).  They all
appear to be fine after a week in new homes where there were no other
ferrets.  I'm seriously considering simply trying to match people up
whenever possible rather than bringing ferrets into the shelter for
placement.  I'm not allowing the volunteers back in yet but have some
help from people who don't have ferrets at home.

So things could be worse and appear to be getting better.  What do you
all think?  Do we have new brand of ECE?  May you all stay well.

Bobbi McC.

[Posted in FML 5395]