>Stretch, one of my originals, has been very, very gradually declining
>since these two changes. He has lost weight and has had intermittent
>diarrhea. (The others are having some diarrhea, too, off-and-on., but
>appear very healthy).
That sounds like possibly one of the foods may have been a bad batch (mild
food poisoning since seen in others, too) , or he might have an allergy or
sensitivity to one food (since his is more pronounced), or it might simply
be the start of something else.
BUT THIS:
>His coat is coarser now and he seems to be losing some fur at the base
>of his tail (though the flesh isn't showing through yet); he has also
>developed some "blackheads" in that area.
Sounds classically like the start of an adrenal growth with signature
sacral balding. These usually are benign (though the percentage of
malignant ones is too high to be at all called "rare") but typically
require surgical correction, anyway. The individuals who are not good
surgical candidates are best helped by medical routines which you can
find outlined in the files at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list
since Lupron alone may not be enough given the risk to prostates in males
which leads to urinary tract risks. Surgery really is the most effective
mode of treatment. You can also learn more about this directly from
ferret-specialist vets at
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
and http://www.ferretdoctor.com .
Susan, do keep us all informed when you learn of more ex-research ferrets
seeking homes! That is much appreciated!
----
>I heard a rumor today that Marshall Farms sells their ferrets for Lab
>work and also for crash test dummies ... Any truth to this??
Lab work, but not fur (which at least one other farm did provide fur for
coats in recent years, though don't know if that has continued so not
naming name). I don't know who provided the ferret used in those crash
tests done by an auto maker but they caused so much flak that the tests
with animals were supposedly stopped years ago. Never saw the source(s)
of the animals released anywhere so it might just be supposition flying
around unless something was released later -- verification of any rumor
therefore needed from something RELIABLE like a good newswire or reputable
newspaper. MF is not the only farm supplying research, BTW, though not
all do. There are some things which just need to be tackled across the
industry as a whole. In the U.S. there are ferrets from at least 4 large
farms currently and from a entire further grouping of what might be called
middle sized farms of 500 or fewer animals, in addition to those from
reputable home breeders, and sad others from the worst of the lot which
are the backyard breeders who are the equivalent of the puppy mills you
read about where generations of one family are repeatedly inbred and live
in horrific conditions.
----
>I have 2 ferrets and have the opportunity to adopt a third. Here are my
>questions:
>
>- My current ferrets had a wicked case of ECE this past winter. They got
>sick right around January 1, and were acutely ill for maybe 5-6 wks, and
>not quite right for some weeks after that. I've heard that the virus
>lingers 6 months or 9 months... How would you decide when it was safe to
>bring a new one into the house, if you didn't know its medical history?
>Would you say that if it's relatively young, the odds are it's already
>been exposed to ECE?
Your best bet is to wait a MINIMUM of 8 months after the ECE infection
before bringing any into your household. We waited a year to be safest;
didn't even go near anyone else's ferrets or to a pet store with ferrets
even for other supplies till that year was over, and certainly not to
shows.
>- What about ADV? I guess i should test for that before bringing it home?
Not a bad idea, but wait till your home's quarantine time is over.
[Posted in FML issue 3443]
|
