Over the past few days I have read several posts concerning Petco.  The
latest one having reference to Animals Etc.  Anyone considering purchasing
a ferret that originated from this distributor should make an appointment
with their veterinarian and have the ferret tested for ADV BEFORE taking
the ferret home and exposing any others you might have to it.
 
Last week we received a call from a client who had come home and found one
of her young ferrets dead.  He had been fine the night before.  We went
over the possibilities one of which was ADV.  She told me she had just
recently read something about it, but hadn't really paid too much
attention.  We did a necropsy on the ferret and though as yet inconclusive,
ADV was not the culprit.  I suggested she bring the remaining three in to
be tested anyway.  She agreed.
 
Her appointment happened to fall on my regular day off.  I met one of our
techs in the supermarket that evening and she said she had just gotten off
work 1.5 hrs late.  Apparently the boyfriend of the ferret client felt so
badly for her, that he went to Petco and purchased another ferret, to try
to fill her loss.  They wound up bringing him in too.  The tech said you
are going to freak........we tested one of the ferrets she has had all
along and it was neg.  then we saw the paper work for the new one.  Listed
as origin of ferret.....Animals Etc. so we tested the new one next....he
was positive.  Upon physical exam he was also found to have bilateral
cataracts and bilateral medial patella luxations.  What a way to start
life.
 
As you can imagine, this girl was devastated.  Not only had she just lost
a ferret, now she had exposed her remaining three ferrets to ADV.  She was
already getting attached to this ferret and if she returned him they would
destroy him.  This ferret came from a Petco that I personally visited over
a year ago and spoke to the assistant manager about Animals Etc.  and ADV.
I took a copy of Ferrets magazine off the rack with Dr. Rosenthal's article
in it and showed it to her.  She assured me that she would talk to
corporate about this.
 
How many times does this tragedy have to repeat itself?  Perhaps Petco
should start being responsible for the medical bills of those they expose
despite being warned.
 
Our client did not want to see the poor kit destroyed and Yvonne from
Fuzztek was kind enough to take him in, but how many others are out
there???  How are we ever going to stop this?
 
PLEASE TEST any new ferrets before bringing them into your home.
[Posted in FML issue 3492]