Swampp & to FML:
 
ECE in CA
 
This is the best method I know to help spread the word of warning...
 
ECE has definitely hit California.  There were a few outbreaks of greenies
here and there, and a report or two of people getting ferrets in AZ and
bringing back ECE, but I have definite reports now from the Los Angeles area
of ECE going wild.  Let's just put it this way, a certain lady from the FFZ
travelled the country recently and picked up more than a dozen ferrets along
the way.  When she returned home, her new charges were not quarantined from
her original kids, nor anyone else's, and at last report, ECE has infected at
least 4 other households and knocked out a few ferret rescue center people.
 
[BTW, I do not adopt or sell ferrets to CA people, and at the time this
person visited me, she had no ferrets in her possession]
 
Since people in CA are loathe to take their ferrets to vets for fear of
seizure and prosecution, PLEASE refer to the ECE/Greenies FAQ for guidance.
 
Yes, all that squirts green is not ECE, but the protocol for treatment
(liquified diets, fluid supplements, and antibiotics) should work for most
cases of the runs.  But if the ferret is not responding to treatment, PLEASE
see a vet!!!!!  It might cost your ferrets their lives either way, but I
would want to do everything in my power, despite the costs, to save my
ferrets from withering away.
 
I would also strongly recommend that any ferret club meetings in CA refrain
from bringing fuzzies, more from fear of spreading ECE unnecessarily than
from F&G.
 
And yes, though I recommend exposure to ECE for young ferrets here in VA -
I'm not advocating this for the whole country.  Only heavily infected areas
with ECE.
 
STAR*
[Posted in FML issue 1642]