From: Ferret Mailing List <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Ferret List Issue 275
> 1) She has heard nthing official about it - in fact the only thing she heard
> was one article that someone forwarded to her via Compuserve. I dropped
> off some hardcopy postings for her as she was moderately interested.
From what I understand, it takes at least a month for the word to spread
about these things. And I started posting things about it here approximately
two days after it was discovered. (See, ferret clubs are useful as
well as a whole lot of fun! :-) )
> 2) She expressed some surprise at the apparent extent of it and also mentione
d
> that she would thing that people who go to ferret shows are better educate
d
> than the "average" ferret owner and would therefore have had their critter
s
> innoculated.
What you have to realize is that this is the time of year when all the
babies are born. Kits cannot be vaccinated until they are 7-8 weeks old,
and the mother's milk only protects them for 1 - 1 1/2 weeks. So they
are *HIGHLY* susceptible during the interim. Also, even after they are
vaccinated, until they are about 3 - 4 months old, the vaccinations
wear off fairly quickly. It is the kits who are the primary victims
in all this, and since all the breeders are bringing their kits to the
shows to sell them...
Also, the statistics are slightly misleading. About 50 ferrets had died
last I heard. An Ohio breeder, Linda Harrah (sp?), had 35 die, and 5 more
were going to (I don't know if those 5 were included in the 50 or not).
Then there are a handful of people who have had some die. My vice
president (Delaware) has had one die, and another that is probably
going to. She had a call yesterday from a lady in NY who just had two
die. And I don't know about the other cases.
Linda Harrah had a population of 60 ferrets, most of which were kits.
So she was a prime target for this. I'm not sure, but I think that
she's where this whole mess started.
The more I think about her situation the madder I get. I feel sympathy
for her that she lost 40 ferrets, I know how heartbroken she must be,
but she could have stopped this thing from spreading so far, and didn't.
Her first ferret died on May 22nd, after she had attended the Metro
show on May 16th. All she had to do was make a few calls and the
Rochester show and the MD fun fest would never have taken place,
or they could have at least been more careful about only allowing
vaccinated animals. Noone even found out about it until the end of
last week!!! My vice president's ferrets were probably exposed at
Rochester, and my girls were definately exposed at the MD fun fest.
And there were also several groups of kits at the MD fun fest, and
more than likely at Rochester as well (I didn't go to Rochester or
the Metro show). I know I probably shouldn't be this mad at her, I'm
sure it wasn't malicious, but I can't help thinking that the vast
majority of this could have been avoided by a simple phone call!!!
For those of you who know Cindy, my vice president, it was Stonewall
who died. He was a 1 year old silver from Kevin Costa. Cindy is
sure that Kevin told her he had given Stonewall his full series of
baby shots. But Cindy has not verified that yet. Her new kit,
Butterscotch, a champagne/cinnamon kit (he's a few months old, I'm not
sure exactly) is the one who is currently ill, she's currently
laboring over the decision to put him down. He's got a puffy rectum,
and has grainy dirt under his eyes and nose, but he's still as playful
as can be. So it's a very hard decision for her to make. He's been
showing symptoms for 5 days, and is currently in isolation. Cindy
is being extraordinary careful about only handling her other ferrets
before she handles him, and then cloroxing the bathroom after letting
him out and immediately taking a shower. She's gone through 8 gallons
of clorox during this thing, and has ruined all of her carpets and
clothes. It's very hard psychologically, too. Although we all feel
terrible about what she's going through, we essentially have to treat
her like she has the plague. None of us can go over to help her out.
When she goes to the vet, she cannot let anyone touch her, or her
ferret. She just holds him up, and has the vet look at him from a
distance. This is truly a terrible disease!
Stonewall, her ferret who has already died, was showing symptoms for
about 3 weeks. And, actually, was not diagnosed until after he had
died. Cindy suspected it, especially when he lost all the fur on
his chin (no "rash" though), but was told that she was probably just
overreacting. He had had problems with his scent glands in the past,
so they thought that he just had infected scent glands (which he did,
they now suspect that the swollen rectum pinched them off, causing
them to become infected. Before they thought that the swollen rectum
was caused by the infected scent glands.) He was actually scheduled
for surgery to remove the scent glands, but they never had time to
do that. He became weak, and all of his other symptoms were just
thought to be that the infection from his scent glands was in his
system. Then one day he Cindy woke up to find that he had a discharge
from his eyes and nose. She immediately called the vet, and the
soonest they could fit her in was 2 hours later. By that time Stonewall
was nearly comatose. She took him in, and within 1/2 an hour they
called her to say that Stonewall had died. I think it was that night
that Cindy found out about the distemper problem, and called her vet
to let them know that was what it really was. So, even good vets
can't always detect these things!
---------------------
Well, the vaccine arrived, and I gave my girls their vaccinations.
(for those who don't recall, I was slightly nervous about that)
It was actually pretty easy.
Note: I am now going to describe how to give a ferret a shot, for
those who are interested. If you are squeamish about these things,
you may want to skip the next paragraph...
Since we've been talking so much about this recently, let me give
directions on how to give a distemper shot. I don't recommend
that you do it yourself unless you are *VERY* confident that you
know how, but I'm afraid some of you will try. So I would rather
give directions and have you do it right, than risk the health of
your ferrets. So, here's how to administer a vaccination: First
of all, its easiest if you can find someone to help you. Have them
prepare the ferret by disinfecting an area between their shoulder
blades with rubbing alcohol. While they are doing that, you can be
preparing the injection, which comes in two small bottles, one of which
contains the freeze dried distemper vaccine and another which contains
a diluent. First wipe the tops of the bottles with rubbing alcohol.
Then insert the syringe into the diluent and pull it all out into the
syringe. Take that, and insert it into the vaccine and gently shake it
to dissolve (you can leave the needle in the bottle while doing this,
don't expose the needle to the air any more than absolutely necessary).
Once mixed, pull all of the solution into the syringe. Leaving the
needle in the bottle, turn it upside-down (needle end up), and tap it
to make all the bubbles rise to the top. Then push the plunger until
all the bubbles are out. Now have your assistant hold your ferrets
head and back end (warn them that they will have to hold very firmly,
the ferret will more than likely squirm at the needle prick and when
you start injecting), it is easiest if you do this on a hard surface,
such as a table or the floor. If you use a soft surface (i.e. sofa or
bed) the ferret will be able to get his/her feet free and thus be able
to move more. Pull up the skin between the shoulder blades to form
a sort of triangle about the ferret's back. Take the needle, holding
it perpindicularly to the ferret, and slide it right under the skin.
(Note: the skin of a ferret is thick, you will have to use a fair
amount of force to pierce it.) Be very careful not to pierce the
muscle, this is a subcutaneous (under the skin) injection. If the
ferret is squirming, you may want inject it fast to get it over with.
Otherwise, you can do it a little slower. There usually won't be any
blood, but if there is, hold a cotton ball on it for a few minutes.
While giving the injection, comfort the ferret, expect him/her to
squirm, and don't get cross with him/her for doing so. Have some
children's benadryl on hand, if the ferret exibits any signs of
allergy (runny eyes/nose) give him/her a ferret sized dose (about
.25 ml give or take, depending on the size of the ferret). If the
ferret exibits any serious side effects, call your vet immediately.
Do *NOT* attempt to vaccinate your ferrets yourself unless you feel
99.9% confident that you know how to do it. Only attempt this
after watching it done, by a vet or other knowledgeable person, a
few times. If you feel almost confident enough, ask your vet if
you can bring your ferret in and they can talk you through it. Most
vets should do this, their primary concern should be the health of
the animals, not their profits.
------------------
All three of mine (well, two are mine, and I have a boarder with me
for the summer) took it very well. The squirmed quite a bit,
especially when I started to inject the vaccine. Not so much when
I pricked them. Afterward Percy laid down about 2 feet from my legs
and glared at me for about 15 minutes. Every time I reached to
touch her she would jump out of the way, and then come right back
to the same spot, lay down, and commence to glaring again. When I
did manage to pick her up, she would squirm to get down right away
(she'll usually let me "scritch" her for a few minutes). She was
making me feel pretty guilty. (This is very abnormal behavior from
her.) Fortunately Bree and Miniver (the boarder) took the whole thing
in stride, and forgave me right away. :-)
- Nancy
Nancy Hartman CIS graduate student
[log in to unmask] U. of Delaware
President and founder, Delaware Valley Ferret Club
Owner of Percy & Bree
[Posted in FML issue 0276]
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