>From:    The Clarks <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Possible Aleutian.
>Last night I was feeding the new baby's at Petco's again.  That's when I
>was told .... A Lady had bought one of the little ones from there five
>days ago and she insists it has given her two existing ferrets ADV.
 
This sounds highly unlikely - unless it is a highly fatal strain of ADV.
Which I doubt it is.
 
>Within those five days, one of them had to be put down(cremated!) and the
>other is ill too, has to be syringe fed and they feel sure that he has to
>be put down also.  She says the vet told her that he had all the symptoms
>of ADV.
 
Do you (or does she) know what the symptoms are?  ADV is more of a wasting
disease.  It is more likely that the ferrets have gotten ECE.  There has
been word of a "new" strain of ECE (on alt.pets.ferrets newsgroups) that
also causes the ferrets to loos use of their hind ends for a few days.
With proper care, they return to normal.
 
>The alarm went off in my head, I have visions of thousands of ferrets
>being slaughtered at MF!  Please God, don't let this be true
 
IF - and I do mean IF - the kits have ADV (most kits do not test positive
until well over 10 weeks of age), it may have not come from MF.  I could
have been in the enclosure at the store.  And if MF has ADV, yes they will
put the ferrets down.  In a population that large and for their purposes
it is, unfortunatly, necessary.
 
>The vet said that they can't test the dead animal for that.  I don't' know
>facts but don't believe this is true?
 
I think that at that stage it is too late to test the blood (but I may be
wrong), but they absolutely can test tisue samples.  Unless they froze the
animal which causes the cells in the tissues to burst (imagine freezing a
can of Coke - the water inside expands and breaks thru the can).
 
>To be sure, they want the new one to be tested but waiting for MF to tell
>them what to do and who will pay for it.  We have not had any other sick
>ferrets returned from that litter.  Actually we don't even know which
>litter that one was from since sometimes ferrets are left over from
>previous litters.
 
I wish them luck.  ADV can live outside the body for a long time.  It can
be present in cages for years.  So IF a ferret came into the sotre and had
ADV, was sheding the virus, and pooped, peed, or sneezed in that cage - any
other ferret that lived in that cage (even if cleaned with bleach) - COULD
get ADV as well.  ADV is a parvo virus.  To solve the problem, I suggest
the store front up for the money to test and then seek reimbursement from
MF.
 
>Is it really possible for this to have happened within five days?
 
I doubt it.  To me it sounds like ECE is what this woman meant.  Did she
say "Aleutian" or ADV?
 
>And where would they send the tests too, the vet did not know but she's
>trying to find out.  Is United Vaccine the only one performing this test
>in the US?
 
Yep.  United is where they are preforming the CEP test currently.  The
actual test itself is $15.
 
I am sending this to Helga as well as to the FML.  I am including Dr. Nye's
recent article with Helga's for her reading enjoyment.  Helga - please take
this info to the woman and her vet - or at least to the pet store.
[Posted in FML issue 3015]