Hi, FMLers!

I am mostly a lurker. I have owned fuzzies for only about 6 months (but
am a research scientist, so have been doing a lot of reading about
them...I like to use FML and the experienced owners/moderators here as
one of my sources).

I am hoping that some of you that have been owning for years can help
me with a situation we are having with my "business".

I have an old female, Stella (stinkerbell, as I like to call her), who
is 5 next month (adopted in November from a family member who "didn't
have time" and was keeping her caged =(. We got two new kits in
January. Chewy is about 7 months old now, and Grubby is about 5 months
now.

Stella was healthy and fat as can be when we first brought her home and
continuing into January. We brought Chewy and Grubby home and isolated
them from Stella for at least the first week. All looked well, so they
were allowed brief interactions (we still keep Stella separate as the
youngins are far too rough with her, and she is tiny - less than half
their size - and old).

Shortly after, Chewy started showing signs of ECE. Took him to the vet,
she confirmed. Grubby and Stella soon followed. The vet (who is *very*
ferret knowledgeable, 20+ years of experience, treats ~1500 fuzzies a
year, so my babies are getting good care), kept a close eye on them.
They were getting checkups almost weekly or every other week. Everyone
came through it fine.

Chewy had a cough since we brought him home. We thought it might have
been his prior bedding (he was being kept in some sort of shavings that
looked like wood). After several visits to the vet, x-rays, benadryl,
antibiotics, and finally a cortisone shot, she ruled that it was
probably allergies or asthma, and he is now on a low dose of pred 3x
per week to keep his coughing/congestion under control and benadryl as
needed.

We thought this was an isolated case with only Chewy, but in the past
couple of weeks, Stella has had congestion and a cough too, and Grubby
has been doing some *very violent* sneezing. Sometimes, it's so bad
that he's almost yelping =(.

I was afraid this might be something secondary to their ECE infections,
so of course, took them to the vet. When we take them into the vet, the
lung x-rays are clear and the CBC is normal (so no obvious signs of
infection). No fever, loss of appetite, pale gums, lethargy etc etc.
Behaviorally, they are totally normal, other than the respiratory
symptoms.

I am starting to think it is something in the environment of our home,
but I am at a loss as to exactly what it could be. There was some mold
discovered in our closet in the bedroom (I live in Florida, so it's
prevalent here), and I had the apartment managers come out and take
care of that. We have also discovered in the past couple of weeks that
there is a small population of some sort of bugs living under the
baseboard of our bathroom. Can't pin-point exactly what they are. they
are tinier than a pin head and can jump, but they don't look like house
fleas. My kids all get advantage and have for months (I though it might
be that but Stella's been getting the advantage since before this all
came about). The kids used to play in there (it's ferret-proofed), but
since we found out about that, we have called the apartment managers
out again to spray and we no longer allow the furkids in there, either.
We also dumped their rice box, which used to be on the screened back
porch, and I plan on getting a new one and keeping it indoors, just in
case something small/microscopic was living in there.

I'm also thinking about getting a dehumidifier for our house to keep
the humidity at/below 50% to control mold and dust mites. I've
developed asthma in the last couple of years, so that's good for my own
health, too.

My question (after all that loooong information) is: have any of you
had experience with anything like this? Any suggestions I can discuss
with my vet? Any ideas/help would be greatly appreciated. I can't stand
to see my furkids suffer, but am at a loss as to what I can do other
than load them up with steroids and benadryl, which I would prefer not
to do, and I am sure the vet wouldn't either =(. I'm taking them all in
again next Monday night for examinations. Hoping to have some ideas by
then.

Thank you all so much! Private as well as public responses are welcome.

Rachael

[Posted in FML 5547]