Coccidia is another thing that pops up in times in ferrets. The trick
with that is that two vastly different SIZES have to be looked for, and
sometimes labs or vets only check with one magnification. Eimeria and
Isospora are the two genera the vet has to be sure are checked for. Not
all vets or labs know that ferrets get both, so mention both by name,
please.
There are a range of GI woes ferrets can get, i am afraid.
About the coronavirus testing mentioned yesterday: Other labs can do a
type of GENERAL coronavirus test. It will tell if the ferret had been
significantly exposed to a coronavirus. It will not tell which type of
coronavirus, though at this point there are only three which ferrets
have gotten: SARS in laboratory settings when purposely infected and
that can be automatically ruled out for many reasons, Systemic Ferret
Coronavirus which is a mutant of ECE according to multiple genetic
studies and behaves like FIP does in cats, and ECE which is a not
uncommon illness of pet ferrets pretty much everywhere these days
though not as commonly heard about as it was in past decades.
Coronaviruses are pretty species-specific and are largely understudied.
SARS began to change that back when it was brought into the human
population in Asia with bushmeat eating (which is a pretty common way
that multiple ancient illnesses have crossed into humans, with ebola
probably being another bushmeat acquired example -- but NOT a
coronavirus -- though ebola would have stayed isolated if there were
not so many decent roads being put into jungles these days for mining
and logging. Then again, so would SARS have stayed isolated without
such roads since it came into China in bushmeat animals from a
previously very isolated region.) More recently MERS-CoV crossing into
the human population probably from camels (a coronavirus which ferrets
do NOT get) also has indicated the need to better understand
coronaviruses. Again, ferrets do NOT get MERS-CoV.
Michigan State has the only lab that can do the genetic testing for the
SPECIFIC type of coronavirus, so your vet will take that into account.
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu
In this case, depending on the examination after you give full details,
the vet might want to also be sure there is not a secondary infection
so the lab may be testing for more than one illness.
Some veterinary hospitals have contracts with certain labs. In those
contracts the hospitals get a lot of free equipment but can not use a
different lab. When that is the case, depending on the lab, it may not
be possible to use a different lab at all, or the lab may charge a
forwarding fee to forward the specimen to the other lab and that will
increase the cost if a very specific test is needed, sometimes even
doubling the cost. Personally, i worry about the limitations such
contracts impose on testing quality, availability, and costs. If your
vet has that kind of contract it may pay to just have the general
coronavirus test run rather than genetic identification, and to check
for possible secondary infection.
[Posted in FML 8180]
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