Zen wrote:
>Does your vet think a different corona virus is causing a different
>disease?  OR are we now labeling an older known disease with a new name?"
>And "IBD as a diagnosis in ferrets seems to be a fad.  ECE is not IBD.
>ECE is a disease caused by a corona virus if I recall correctly".
 
In my post about IBD in Utah kids I thought I was being clear what my vet
thought, but perhaps my understanding or use of the word, "connected" was
wrong?  I didn't say he thought it was the same thing, or a different
Corona Virus was causing a different disease.  I said that he believes
ECE (a Corona Virus) was CONNECTED to IBD in some way.  Perhaps it is
because of the internal damage ECE can do to the stomach lining, I have
no idea, I am NOT a vet.  He does know that IBD is a autoimmune disease.
He did not just pull the diagnosis out of a hat thinking, "Oh this is the
fad today, let's go with it".  Both ferrets had surgery & had biopsy's
taken & sent off to a lab & the lab is who determined both ferrets have
IBD.
 
Perhaps you don't take IBD seriously enough.  I know that at least one
of these 2 ferrets almost died from it.  If he wouldn't have had the
surgery he would have died & I wouldn't have known why.  He had been to
2 different vets.  I had thought he had a blockage.  He had a X-ray &
nothing showed up.  He went back again because he wasn't doing good,
another X-ray & still nothing.  He went back again & she thought that
since we didn't know his age, he might be an elderly ferret & old age was
catching up to him.  By this time he was lethargic, had lost a lot of
weight & looked like a white fuzzy string bean with legs.  I was still
convinced it was something else so he went to a vet I know would do
exploratory surgery on him.  It saved his life.  The second ferret also
had a hairball that filled her stomach, so it was probably both that were
killing her.  It was touch & go with her.  How many ferrets have this &
waste away with people not knowing what is wrong?  How many people don't
have necropsy's done to find out what killed a ferret?  When my ferrets
are sick I take it very seriously & I do what I can to find out what is
wrong & try to fix it.
 
My post was only because I have 2 out of 11 Utah ferrets that have been
diagnosed with IBD.  I also have/had 3 with Insulinoma & 2 that have had
adrenal surgery, which I realized I should have included in my post
asking if anyone else, shelter's or individuals that have or had Utah
ferrets have been seeing, these health problems.  I am just curious if
all of the stress these ferrets have gone through & the conditions they
were kept in, has been showing up in the form of any of these diseases,
such as IBD.  Since we have no way of knowing if any of them have ever
had ECE, we know for certain they have had a lot of stress.
 
I do realize that shelter's take in many ferrets with these problems,
especially the adrenal & I guess Insulinoma every day.  I just lost 2
ferrets that were not Utah kids.  They both had Insulinoma & adrenal
problems so I know it isn't uncommon & only found in the Utah rescue
ferrets.  Perhaps my question was a dumb one after all & I do apologize
for taking up anyone's time with it.  IBD is serious & people need to
know what it is & how to find out if a ferret has it & how to treat it.
 
Lynn & Clan War Weasels
[Posted in FML issue 3885]