We just put the male of the pair that brought in the ECE to sleep. I
am so broken-hearted and so are my volunteers. He was doing so well
yesterday. He had been eating soup on his own for days (I thought he'd
eat the bowl too yesterday.) and seeming more perky. I did the last
feeding at midnight. Then, early this morning, he wouldn't eat. He
seemed cooler to the touch than normal. I did a force-feeding after
some Pepto and added extra Pedialyte. Less responsiveness at a second
force-feeding later -- limp ragdoll. At 10:20 AM, he began to gnash his
teeth, pant, and groan; I could hear him from the master bedroom, which
is why I went to check off the 30 minute schedule (Well, at least the
blindness gives me bat-like hearing.). He was covered in black tar goop
head-to-tail. I bathed him, and he couldn't even hold his head out of
the water. At the vet's, he began to bleed from his mouth -- and I mean
dripping blood, not just a little on his lips (No ECE mouth ulcers
though). His temp was 90.2, (He had been blown dry after his bath and
kept wrapped up for warmth ever since, in consideration of how cool
he'd seemed that morning, in case anyone thinks the bath chilled him).
Slow, uneven heartbeat. There was nothing of this bright, beautiful
albino ferret left. He needed antibiotics by I. He needed a four to
seven day stay in intensive care. Even at that, the vet gave him almost
no chance. His "improvement" had been his body using up its reserves,
not a true recovery. Now, Casper is with the others, buried in rows
along the back of our home.

Is the ECE real? Some people need a lab report to tell them. Others of
us say, know something like adrenal without a TN panel. Since the ECE
test is so unreliable, two vets by phone, one vet in person, and a few
shelters by phone are sure we have had ECE, we're skipping the invasive
intestinal scraping.

For those of you involved in the aspects of this mess on Facebook,
know that I don't have a Facebook account. I tried to be vague in
my FML post about which rescue gave Ferrets at Heart the sick ferrets.
Unfortunately, I didn't know it was mentioned from their end on
Facebook about giving us the ferrets. FMLers can add one and one,
so I'm told. ECE would appear as shelter shock for a few days of
incubation, until the greens begin, so no blame should be cast as far
as anyone giving us ECE sick ferrets "knowingly". They probably had ECE
before, and the stress of leaving home for the shelter brought it back.

Let me be perfectly clear. ECE is a disease that is no one's fault.
Once it is in a facility, you can't quarantine it away (once the
incubation period has passed). We do not hold any other rescue
financially responsible for the ECE outbreak. If not for them passing
along ferrets they had for so little time, nearly 50 of their own
ferrets would now be dead or be carriers. If our own few had to become
ill to save many, then so be it, though we do not wish ECE on any
ferret.

If you have been chastising the other rescue on Facebook, please stop.
What you are actually doing is straining relations between rescues in
our area. The more you hurt the reputation of this other rescue, the
more I am blamed for outing that the ferrets weren't quarantined for
weeks before being passed to me. Plus, the owner of the rescue in
question is also a member of another very trustworthy and upstanding
rescue that you may also be harming in the process, and they are good
neighbors. I've sometimes not quarantined ferrets before caging them in
the same room with my others from unknown sources, thinking that these
scary diseases weren't that common (though I've never taken one outside
my home, other than to the vet, before one month had passed). I was
naive and inexperienced. I know I've learned much from this disaster,
and I am sure the other rescue has as well.

Thank you to those of you who sent donations through PayPal. You helped
us at the vet today, and we have some antibiotics for the cagemate of
the one who just left us, since we expect an ECE relapse from the
grief-stress. Our appreciation also for the packages of bedding, A/D,
water bottles, and other items shipping out to us; it is a good feeling
to know that warm-hearted ferret people are there.

Remember to put your ferrets first. They come before your feelings,
your wants, and your anything else. You can compensate for things that
go amiss in your life, but your rescues have already sacrificed away
their hearts and health and been rejected more times than you may ever
know.

With another at the Rainbow Bridge,

Lori of Ferrets at Heart
http://ferretsatheart.com/

[Posted in FML 7451]