Hi all, Let me start by saying that I am on of the shelters Danee was referring to in her post. I think her idea is wonderful. More and more shelters are becoming ADV postive, and the costs will be phenominal if they have a large number of ferrets. I myself have 46. I did a random testing of 10 with the Elisa saliva test. One came back as a week positive, so I quickly did the other 36. As you know at 10 dollars a test, that cost me $460.00. I had 6 more +, so I am done as a shelter. Unfortunately, I'm not set up to separate, and in my case, I have someone actively shedding. To respond a bit to Kat's post about shelters needing to test, I totally agree. I did not test every ferret that came in. ADV was not big in my area and neither is there a ferret community to speak of. I knew enough about most of the backgrounds of the guys I took in. Fortunately, I'm fairly new as a shelter, but have been "rescuing" ferrets for about 4 years. I have not adopted anyone out. Most were older and in immediate need of medical care, mostly srugeries, which add up very quickly also. Because most of the guys I've taken in already had a bad life, or medical problems, they were here to stay. I'm their sanctuary. What time they have left will be the best they ever had. It's all can do for them. So, as you can see, I made a few mistakes, but I can honestly say, some of it was naivete' about this disease. Even though I've been on the ADV list from the start, I did not realize a lot about this disease (like it can be carried for very long periods of time) and still feel like I do not now anything. As for testing, the 2 I have that are showing any symptoms at all, tested negative 2 times within one week. All the other positves are very healthy (thank God). One of these ferrets has been with me since he's a kit, now over a year. The other was in a bad home for over a year with an old cagemate with insulinoma and adrenal. She was negative also. These syptoms give us reason to believe that one of these guys is the shedder. Now, had they both just come to me with these symptoms, and I were suspicious. I test, they're negative, I test a week later, they're negative. I must be ok???? I'm having further testing done with Dr. Stevenson to see if this is the case. I also spoke with another ADV+ shelter person at the AFA show on Saturday. She had 2 come in that she quarrantined and tested, they were negative. She tested again later, and I think one came up +. They were not exposed to her positive ferrets. She is able to keep hers separated. To wrap up this way too long post. Even if you do test, it's not completely foolproof. This disease is VERY strange and so much is still unknown. I suggest testing with both the saiva AND the CEP (blood) test from United, to be extra sure. Although, as already said, most shelters cannot afford this. Also, we'd like to send bloodwork out regularly for resaerch purposes, so more can be learned. At a minimum of $20 per package to overnight it, this too is very costly. I surely do not have the answers. All I can say is, please test and be very careful. Sincerely, Nicole [Posted in FML issue 3369]