The recent postings about the third-party distributors got me thinking about ECE. Almost four years ago, I brought Cotton home from a local Petco. Three days later, I was at the vet with my girl Fuzzy, who had mushy stools: ECE. My vet brought her through it after a few days in the hospital. At the time, I found it incredible that an MF ferret brought ECE into my home; but the delivery path that ferrets take from Marshall Farms to a local Petco explains how Cotton got ECE. Fortunately, Cotton was only a carrier. Now, I'm wondering if there is any way to test those distribution places for ECE contamination? I thought that Dr. Williams had said that there was some evidence for a virus causing ECE. I'm also thinking that it might be prudent for the distributors to keep the ferrets from the various farms completely separate; might be possible to determine which farm(s) may be carrying ECE. Craig [Posted in FML issue 3807]