Oh what I've learned these past few days . . . foremost is that a
definitive diagnosis seems to be very hard to obtain. And that has been
confirmed by a couple of shelters that have contacted me privately to
share their personal experience with CDV.

We lost one of our intensive care ferrets today .... She progressed to
the neurological phase and was in such pain that we had to let her go
the the Bridge. I do hope there is a very special place for her and the
other innocents that have preceded her while they wait to cross. :(

One more is showing symptoms and two others need hand feeding in the
shelter and we suspect we will see the signs soon. Doing the math, we
think this phase of seeing new cases will continue another 2 or maybe
3 weeks.

So many people fear cross contamination of the virus (yes, while
unconfirmed we are treating this as CDV), that I've been working with
Barbara Clay to get folks that follow the Rocky's site to help pull
together documentation of appropriate protocols to keep volunteers and
their ferrets safe. She's running full tilt and for those on Facebook
who want to contribute to what will be pulled together, I urge you to
help in that effort.

So much misinformation and unclear information persists. Protocols are
rather vague and do not reflect the reality of the ferret community and
how most ferrets are sheltered in the US (and I suspect a good part of
the world). But there is a lot that can be extracted from the dog world
as well as wildlife rehabbers. With much affection to those I've worked
with, I thought I knew a LOT about poop after 30 years of ferret
ownership. Can say say with all sincerity that I ain't learned nothing
yet!! :)

More good news is that - as I've shared elsewhere - CDV is a rather
whimpy virus compared to what most of the animal community has to deal
with. It's not the bubonic plague and it's pretty easy to contain and
recover from. You don't have to burn the house down or sacrifice your
firstborn to the appease the gods of viral containment.

We just need people like Kevin and the dedicated folks at WFR; and
others that have come forward on facebook and in personal emails to
share their experiences and learnings. Yes, sadly, we have and will
continue to loose ferrets. But that won't ever stop if we don't all
work together as a community to eliminate the fear of disclosure and
foster the free sharing of information!

Thanks for your support, thanks for your sharing, but mostly thanks
for your love of our beloved companions.

Ann Gruden
Ferret Association of Connecticut

[Posted in FML 7106]