Dear X:
 
There are a couple of points here that bear comment.
 
#1. Giardia is not generally considered to be life-threatening - it may
be debilitating in some animals, but does not kill, and not quickly like
this.
 
#2. A ferret that never showed diarrhea is really not a suspect for
Giardia.
 
#3. Giardia isn't generally transmitted between animals and human
directly - usually it is picked up by ingesting contaminated water,
such as creek water, lake water, etc.
 
#4. While flagyl is generally considered safe - its wretched taste may
indeed cause stress ulcers.  Valbazen (albendazole) is considered to be a
good treatment in dogs with Giardia, but I am unaware of toxicity studies
in ferrets - I tend to doubt however, that these drugs resulted in
toxicosis.
 
#5. When the putative cause of death is a microorganism, it would seem
obvious that confirmation would require microscopic analysis of the
intestine..... as I so often say - GROSS POSTS ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH!
 
As a pathologist now with 12 years experience in ferrets, I know that
if you took my scope away, and required me to diagnose simply on gross
examination - I would come up empty at least half the time - and it's my
area of specialty!  I would submit that the gross post from the average
clinician without pathology training or ferret experience would yield far
less....
 
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP
[Posted in FML issue 3716]