When transporting fuzzies, PLEASE, make sure first that you are not
transporting an infection as well.  A while back a particularly virulent
form of coccidea was first spread because of animals being transported from
the origin area to a few other places; it was a new form which tended to
kill most of the animals which got it and did so very painfully.  It later
was stopped because people finally had pathology done which allowed the
cause to be found, people treated large numbers of animals in the affected
areas even before disease broke, and animals were not brought in or away
from those locations till the disease was long gone in the areas.  This
variation of coccidea seems to have died-out due to these efforts.  If
isolation of the origin areas could have been done early on with ECE just
think how much easier life could have been for so very many thousands of
ferrets; perhaps like us you had ferrets which suffered permanent damage
or actually died from ECE because there was no way to isolate better then.
Now, some locations are worried about their rising Aleutian rates, and
this is much more serious illness than ECE.  Obviously, sometimes it is
essential -- in terms of saving lives -- that some areas be isolated and
this can be done even though such logical precautions are completely
voluntary and rely on peoples' common sense (which is fortunately a common
enough characteristic in ferret owners).  Please, when moving ferrets, take
this caution into account.
 
You should have seen Ashling yesterday.  I grow a very mild Middle Eastern
mint variety which I think I first got from Shepard's Seeds (though
Ashling's taste is branching out so she's now eating the other varieties at
times, too), and Ashling LOVES to roll and eat this mint.  She'll breathe
on your face afterward.  Yesterday she accidently pulled off a large strand
of one, so I wrapped it into a loose garland (Wanted it to come apart if
caught on anything) and put it around her neck.  She danced, she pronged,
she held her head up so high I think she was looking down her nose at the
entire world and then she pranced around in front of the others showing
that she had this and they did not so she must be royal and worthy of
subjugation which they actually came forward and offered.
 
ECE is not the only thing which might some into the home with a new one.
When Warp arrived five year ago we introduced her after her veterinary
exam but before her fecal results arrived.  Guess who got to dose the
ENTIRE crew each day for some time afterward for an unexpected (non-ECE)
intestinal infection?  Long before that we had another one bring in
influenza and an older one almost died.  You'd think at our ages that we'd
be more consistent after the first learning experience, wouldn't you?
Okay, I will not say which one of us gets impatient on this score, but
folks have to TRY to wait for all the critters' sakes.
[Posted in FML issue 2813]