This post may interest both parties involved in the FL caregiver ferret
death.
 
Our shelter recently had a problem with an adoptee.  I will do my best to
keep this brief and any vets who watch this list please post or email with
any input you may have.
 
We adopted out a 1 y/o male.  The adopters currently had one ferret who was
a 2 y/o female.  Both were in good health at the time of the adoption.
 
Please note that we were not contacted about any of the following events
until after they had occured.
 
The exsisting ferret in the home developed green poop and had stopped eating
and drinking.  The owners didn't seek veterinary care .  They found the
ferret dead in the litter box about 1 week after the onset of symptoms.
Meantime the ferret which we adopted out to them had also developed the same
symptoms.  They contacted our shelter several days after thier 2 y/o had
died.  We advised they IMMEDIATLY get him to a vet, and gave them the name
of a very ferret knowledgable vet in thier area.  This vet diagnosed
helicobacter(sp) bacterial infection and began treatment as such.  The
ferret came back into the shelter for treatment after several more days with
the adoptive parents (we never heard from them again, not even a phone call
to see how he was).  The poor thing was cold and stiff when they dropped him
off.  He was 2lb.  14oz.  when he left the shelter and came back 1lb.  8oz.
 
At a follow-up visit with the shelter vet I explained to him everything we
knew about the onset of the illness and the fate of the other ferret in the
household.
 
This is where veterinary input is appreciated.  Our vet presumed that the
exhisting ferret was a carrier of the Helicobactor and the stress of a new
addition caused it to flare, thereby also infecting the new addition.  He
sited a study which was done on 50 "healthy" ferrets.  Of the 50 who were
tested 45 were positive for the Helicobactor without showing symptoms.  The
assumption is that most ferrets have this present in thier system but
generally require a "trigger" to cause the bacterial quantity to become high
enough to cause medical problems.
 
To the parties involved in the unfortunate death.  Is it possible this may
be what's responsible?  Have any of the affected ferrets been tested for
this bacterial infection?  A show of green poop doesn't automatically mean
ECE.  It could very well be that one of the ferrets, either the caregivers
or the ones new to thier care, was a "carrier" and the stress of
introduction caused it to flare up.
 
I am in no way implying that a sick ferret was knowingly introduced.  The
study above was done on healthy ferrets with no known pre-exposure to the
illness.
 
I was hesitant to post this as I didn't want to get involved in an incident
which I have no first hand knowledge of.  But it seems it may be possible
that noone was "at fault".
 
Best regards.
SP
[Posted in FML issue 2229]