WhyNot? Ferrets got hit with a Bug in Y2K. Not the pooter.... the ferrets. :-( Early January, I took in a ferret from another shelter. Followed standard quarantine procedures for 3 weeks, but within 3 days of taking Tiki (TK) out of quarantine, other ferrets began showing signs of diarrhea. At first, I attributed this to a relapse of the cold/flu we d dealt with earlier... but ferrets were also vomiting. After a couple days, the diarrhea developed a very strong, necrotic odor... every ferret except Tiki has been affected. Charlie-girl was fine one night, the next morning almost comatose from bloody diarrhea. She had a parvo smell in addition to the diarrhea. 2 days at the clinic saved her life. Within the week, we lost Elke to bloody diarrhea... couldn t pull her through. (They re the only 2 out of 35 with bloody diarrhea.) The next night, I lost Bandit, an older ferret under treatment for insulinoma and adrenal.... a couple days later I lost Finn, an elderly personal ferret, who also had insulinoma. 3 days after that we lost Daisy, an older shelter girl. Got one more staying at the clinic right now. Siobhan is a 5 year old sprite who developed the diarrhea late & I guess decided not to fight after her best buddy Finn died. Well, we ain t lettin go of her without a fight on our side. I ve lost too many already. When Elke died, I asked the clinic to have a *full* necropsy done. I had a feeling I knew what we were dealing with, but since we ve never had a case of ECE confirmed in El Paso, I wanted to make sure. Her body was sent off to TVMDL in Amarillo, TX. We also screened for giardia, coccidia, and anything else we could think of (everything came back negative).... and gave as much supportive care as we could without knowing for sure yet what we were dealing with. Antibiotics, fluids (both oral and sub-Q where necessary), hand feedings, and lots of disinfecting..... problem is, there are a number of older and/or immuno-compromised ferrets here right now & this has complicated things. (I have a lot of respect for others who ve gone through this, and managed to do it without losing any of the ferrets....) We got back the preliminary report on Friday, Feb. 18. Pending further testing, they reported that the lesions are consistent with an enterocolonic infection. A viral etiology such as Epizootic Catarrhal Enteritis (ECE) is suspected. An updated report came in on Tuesday, Feb. 22. I sent it off to Dr. Bruce Williams, who very kindly read it and confirmed our suspicions. My vet is completely satisfied that ECE is what we re dealing with. (sounds strange, doesn t it? <sigh>) The shelter that sent Tiki to me insists they ve never had ECE. They do, however, have a problem with coccidia in the soil there, and it's impossible to completely eradicate. I m wondering whether that, and the fact that the shelter there treated every incoming ferret for exposure and diarrhea, could have possibly masked the ECE symptoms. (I ve spoken with their vet, and she allows the possibility - she s going to be doing some research herself now.) But if I remember right, the supportive care for a severe case of coccidia is similar to supportive care for ECE.... so it looks like ECE is now officially in the southern NM/west TX area. (Neither our own testing, nor TVMDL s testing, has found any trace of coccidia in any of the ferrets here as of this time.) Being a shelter, I knew I d probably get hit eventually - it s a wonder it didn t happen earlier. I ve contacted the other local vets, and given my vet permission to share anything from my file dealing with ECE to any other vet who asks for information. I have placed WhyNot? Ferrets under quarantine and we will remain so until further notice. Many MANY thanks to those of you that contacted me with advice and encouragement during this time. Especial thanks to Rick & Candi, Lisa, Judy, Sam, Pat McD, & Matthew. Anyway, this is why I haven t been in contact with anyone about The Tao of sPooF lately... I do have a page set up on my website, but haven t had a chance to really work on it. If you have an insight as to why ferrets do what they do (doesn t matter if it s totally specious, as long as it *sounds* like good science LOL - after all, that s what quackery is all about) or if you already sent something to the FML and want it included on the page, please resend it to me with Tao of sPoof in the heading. You can preview the page at http://www.whynotferrets.com/Tao.html - it s not live yet, but I ll work on it as I can. Carla Smith <>< WhyNot? Ferrets http://www.whynotferrets.com ICQ: 29478475 member, Rio Grande Domestic Ferret Club, El Paso, TX "Every pet deserves to be loved, and to have someone cry over them when they're gone." [Posted in FML issue 2973]