Hi all,
 
Well, my three have been off of their medicine (enrofloxicin) for about five
days now and seem to be doing well...so far.  This has been a long haul for
me...about 2 months to diagnose and treat this stuff.  I guess I have a
couple questions.
 
First, where did the E. coli and pseudomonas come from?  Some say it may
have come from tainted food, but others say "maybe not".  I have been told
that E. coli "is everywhere".  Is this true?  Does this mean I should stop
taking my guys to the local pet stores to show them off?  Gad!  I hope
not! :-)  Is trying to answer this question useless?  Is E. coli so common
that it can be gotten from practically anywhere?
 
Also, are my guys "out of the woods"?  Does enrofloxicin do a good job at
killing this stuff or can I possibly expect a relapse?  Two of the three
still have stools that look kind of seedy.  Is this normal?  Will this
eventually go away?  Should I take stool samples to the vet again so that
the samples can be again analyzed by Auburn University to make sure that
everything is OK?  Each test is $55...I have three ferrets.  I'm not
complaining about the cost, but I would like to know if I should plan on
spending that money.
 
Snookie and Boomer are now at about 2 lbs 4oz, which is pretty good.  Boomer
was down to 1.7 lbs at one point.  I can still feel their ribs when I pick
them up, so I'm still trying to put some weight on them.  Buster is back up
to almost 3.5lbs...he seems to be doing OK.  In fact, I think I need to
somehow get him to eat less and have the other two eat more.
 
Any information that any of you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
 
-Mark Zmyewski
 Huntsville, Alabama
[Posted in FML issue 1758]