>From: The Clarks <[log in to unmask]> >Subject: Possible Aleutian. >Last night I was feeding the new baby's at Petco's again. That's when I >was told .... A Lady had bought one of the little ones from there five >days ago and she insists it has given her two existing ferrets ADV. This sounds highly unlikely - unless it is a highly fatal strain of ADV. Which I doubt it is. >Within those five days, one of them had to be put down(cremated!) and the >other is ill too, has to be syringe fed and they feel sure that he has to >be put down also. She says the vet told her that he had all the symptoms >of ADV. Do you (or does she) know what the symptoms are? ADV is more of a wasting disease. It is more likely that the ferrets have gotten ECE. There has been word of a "new" strain of ECE (on alt.pets.ferrets newsgroups) that also causes the ferrets to loos use of their hind ends for a few days. With proper care, they return to normal. >The alarm went off in my head, I have visions of thousands of ferrets >being slaughtered at MF! Please God, don't let this be true IF - and I do mean IF - the kits have ADV (most kits do not test positive until well over 10 weeks of age), it may have not come from MF. I could have been in the enclosure at the store. And if MF has ADV, yes they will put the ferrets down. In a population that large and for their purposes it is, unfortunatly, necessary. >The vet said that they can't test the dead animal for that. I don't' know >facts but don't believe this is true? I think that at that stage it is too late to test the blood (but I may be wrong), but they absolutely can test tisue samples. Unless they froze the animal which causes the cells in the tissues to burst (imagine freezing a can of Coke - the water inside expands and breaks thru the can). >To be sure, they want the new one to be tested but waiting for MF to tell >them what to do and who will pay for it. We have not had any other sick >ferrets returned from that litter. Actually we don't even know which >litter that one was from since sometimes ferrets are left over from >previous litters. I wish them luck. ADV can live outside the body for a long time. It can be present in cages for years. So IF a ferret came into the sotre and had ADV, was sheding the virus, and pooped, peed, or sneezed in that cage - any other ferret that lived in that cage (even if cleaned with bleach) - COULD get ADV as well. ADV is a parvo virus. To solve the problem, I suggest the store front up for the money to test and then seek reimbursement from MF. >Is it really possible for this to have happened within five days? I doubt it. To me it sounds like ECE is what this woman meant. Did she say "Aleutian" or ADV? >And where would they send the tests too, the vet did not know but she's >trying to find out. Is United Vaccine the only one performing this test >in the US? Yep. United is where they are preforming the CEP test currently. The actual test itself is $15. I am sending this to Helga as well as to the FML. I am including Dr. Nye's recent article with Helga's for her reading enjoyment. Helga - please take this info to the woman and her vet - or at least to the pet store. [Posted in FML issue 3015]