Hello everyone,
 
I just want to do a quick update and let you know the status as of today.
We've had 4 apparent cases of this in the last week, we being myself and 2
Club members, 3 of the 4 died and 1 recovered.  The one common denominator
among the 3 that died was rapid nset of massive dehydration.  Necropsies
were done on 2 with tissue specimens taken to be sent to Dr. Bruce
Williams.  I'd like to clarify that when the word Shelter appears in our
post, I am in fact referring to my particular house, as of today this
illness hasn't shown up in any of our homes tat have adoptable kids or
kids available for fostering.
 
The following port is quite long because it was written primarily to be
e-mailed to ferret vets across the country in the hope of finding some
kind of answers.  If you aren't currently seeing one of our shelter vets,
please take the time to print this up and bring it to your vet and/or any
other vet who sees ferrets.  To date no one we have talked to who went to
a vet has found that their vet could diagnose this.
 
If you read nothing else, at least take the time to review the symptoms.
If your ferret currently has, has had in the past, or should in the future
display these symptoms, please let me know immediately.  I'm trying to
collect as many case histories, as complete as possible, to try and find
the common threads that will hopefully enable us to pin down what this is
and how to treat it.
 
Dooks,
Laura
 
Debbie F.
 
[Moderator's note: Nothing was attached -- perhaps it's on the way.  BIG]
[Posted in FML issue 3504]