>And, my ferret Linus has been medicated for IBD for 3 and a half years.
>His cagemate Zooey also had this condition, but she only lived for 10
>months after diagnosis.  Their vet had told me on numerous occasions his
>hypothesis that possibly IBD could lead to lymphoma.  He was quite aware
>he was only in the hypothesis stage.  He also wondered could there be
>a connection with these later IBD ferrets getting ECE when they were
>younger?  Anyway, more or less constant lab monitoring has enabled Linus
>the Ferret to slow down the progress of his IBD.  Lymphoma does not look
>to be in the near future (knock on wood).
 
Yep, you hit the nail squarely on the head, Minta, on both counts!  Yes,
there is a hypothesis that ECE may be a precursor of IBD, put forth by
Dr. Bruce Williams and maybe by others.  Putting these two hypotheses
together is why is felt that if they are both correct then a future
vaccine for ECE (a goal of pathologist, Dr. Matti Kuipel) may not only
result in sparing ferrets from ECE but may spare a number from IBD and
perhaps even some from lymphoma.
 
I had a big bad word substitution in the last FML digest (Sorry.):
 
>Yes, there are ferrets with IBD who get lymphoma but it is not know at
>this point if that rate differs from those without lymphoma.
 
The last word there should have been IBD.  No one knows it the rate of
those with IBD who get intestinal lympho differs from the rate of those
without IBD who get intestinal lympho.
 
The hypothesis makes sense logically as does ECE being a possible
precursor for some IBD cases, but we all know that even among the
most logical of hypotheses not all pan out so the distinction between
hypothesis and proven fact is important to recall.
 
BTW, we never had IBD in any of our's until we had ECE arrive in our
family, though that does not necessarily mean anything at all and is just
an observation.  In going on 21 years we have had only two ferrets with
IBD and both were ECE exposed, but given sample size and a bunch of other
things that could be a coincidence or something real -- no way to know
at this point.  Most of our ECE exposed ones did not develop later
intestinal problems.
 
Nowadays in the U.S. ECE exposures at the breeding locations,
distributors, pet stores, etc.  are so common that it is rampant and, of
course, it can be silent in kits even while it sheds (risking infecting
others) or even maybe sets up the kits for possible later problems.
Developing affordable testing and future vaccines is not easy or cheap,
but I sure hope it pans out.  It's one of the projects which makes me
feel guilty that we are in a tight enough situation that we can't give
to advancing veterinary knowledge of ferrets the way we used to.  I know
that I shouldn't feel guilty about that, but it's important to be able to
eventually spare ferrets and their people from things like ECE and any
possible cascades.  It would be enough to even just control ECE alone
even if there aren't later cascades.
  ---
 
Veronica, call your vet and see what your vet prefers.  We used to go the
Benedryl route but our vet now prefers giving a shot of Dex and then the
vaccine.  Always wait at the hospital AT LEAST a half hour afterward, of
course.
[Posted in FML issue 4087]