jonathan, ferrets for dummies is an excellent resource - for every ferret owner regardless of whether they are new to ferrets or have had them in their lives for decades. owning/reading it does not at all apply to the situation at jenny's shelter!! it makes no sense at all for you to recommend reading it with regard to this situation. you obviously skipped over some of the information that was in her post. jenny clearly states: - that the ferrets were exposed to distemper at the county shelter - that neither ferret presented clear symptoms for weeks after they arrived - that at least one worker there was not aware that ferrets are susceptible to canine distemper - that the shelter was aware they had a distemper outbreak months beforehand (october 2008) and didn't inform anyone about it - most notably those who were adopting animals. - that they acknowledged, to jenny, in february of 2009 that they had active distemper in the facility and it had been going on since october 2008. - that the shelter continued to take animals in as well as adopt them out until the distemper was reported (to an entity other than the shelter) in february of 2009. the reporting of the distemper to someone other than the shelter operater caused the shelter to be shut down. - that she quarrantined the new arrivals, as is her standard procedure. even with doing the usual quarrantine - which is by putting the new arrivals in a completely separate area that is closed off from the main shelter area, it didn't matter at all when there were animals that were full-blown with the disease. full blown with the disease and not yet showing symptoms - so, no way for her to know that they were infected (thanks to the idiots at the shelter not disclosing that they had an active canine distemper situation at the facility). jenny is well aware of the importance of vaccinating for distemper. she has other pets besides ferrets and also runs the ferret shelter - which is a hospice shelter; she does not adopt out. all the animals in her care (personal as well as shelter) have their shots (rabies and distemper) on a regular and timely basis. only one of the shelter kids hadn't gotten the distemper shot upon arrival at the shelter (her vet does rabies and distemper on separate visits). it ended up being overlooked by the vet as well as her due to multiple arrivals, who were severely ill, coming in within a short period of time. once it was evident what was going on, that one got her shot and any others that were close to being due for yearly boosters were also given their shots. blood was also pulled to get titer levels. as it turned out, good titer levels and booster shots, on top of good levels, didn't matter. at least not consistantly, that is. some of those that were taken by the cd had high titers - well over 500 - and got a booster and they still contracted the disease. vaccinating is extremely important, yes!!! doing so doesn't always matter, though, as we have learned from this situation. quarranting newbies is also extremely important!!! doing so doesn't always matter, though, as we learned from this situation. there is no rhyme or reason when it comes to which ones contracted the cd - some were young and some were older and some were healthy and some had illnesses. and then you have the one from the pair that didn't succumb to it even though he did have it...and his buddy suffered so horribly and died from it. doesn't make any sense at all. research needs to be done. and some IS being done! there's a study going on with regard to titer levels. get the info about it here: http://www.ferret.org/news/07-april-titer_study.html and please get your kids into the study!! the more people that get involved and stay involved with it from year to year, the more inf can be gathered and tracked and . and the more info there is, in that study, the better it will be when the time comes to do clinical testing with regard to what levels actually provide protection. what information jenny has collected will also be vital when it comes time to take the studies to the next level. her experience will provide valuable information with regard to developing a good treatment for cd. thanks, suki, for those links about the vitamin a treatment - i'll be reading them :) that wasn't what was used in this situation, though. this experience, as awful as it has been - and still is - for jenny, is an opportunity for all of us to learn. shelter operators as well as just regular ol' owners. whenever you bring a newbie in, it's crucial to quarrantine; it's crucial to get them updated on shots (both rabies and distemper); it's crucial to take quarrantine measures to an extreme. by that i mean, keeping the newbies in a separate room for at least 2 weeks and more like 3-4. washing any body parts that have been exposed to the newbies (hands, arms, neck, face, hair, etc) as well as changing clothes before interacting with the other animals in your home/facility. keeping all bedding and litter materials completely separate (doing different loads in the washer and disposing of litter in separate bags). shutting down air intakes in the room the newbies are in if you have a forced-air heat/a/c system. having a set of toys that only the newbies will use. keeping food and water supplies separate as well as dishes/bowls/bottles; same with medical supplies (feeding syringes, measuring items for meds, etc). all this not just to keep distemper at bay. there are SO many things that can pass between the ferrets (cd and adv being two of the worst), it's worth the extra effort to keep everyone (newbie as well as original group) from catching something. we all 'know' how bad distemper is...we've all heard that all our lives. not many of us have actually seen it, though. i hadn't. i saw pics of what it did to these little ones. just pics - and that is absolutely more than enough. i never, ever, want to see this thing in person. it's an absolute atrocity. not something i'd wish for anyone or their pets (ferret, dog, cat, or any other type) to have to experience. it's something any of us can come across, though. especially shelters... you wonderful people are much more at risk than the majority of us. it takes a special person to do shelter work to begin with. to deal with an outbreak like distemper (or adv, or coccidia) - and to come through it with survivors - takes a rare individual. jenny is such, as are most of you that run shelters. what happened to jenny could happen to any one of us, regular owners or shelters. at any time. to make any negative statements to jenny, or anyone else who talks about such an awful experience - which is done so that others are made aware and with the hope that they will learn and modify what they do so that they don't also have such an awful experience - is just plain insulting. to the person the negativity is directed to as well as everyone else on this list. even more so in this case because she DID do everything right - what happened was absolutely through no fault of hers! we're here to do the best by our ferrets...one way to do that is by learning from others experiences - both the good things and the awful things. jenny is to be commended for what she has done. she stood up and fought canine distemper - and won, to boot. most people would crumble and just put all the animals down because 'there's no treatment'. she was willing to do whatever was necessary for her personal pets as well as the shelter residents. she tried a treatment that was untested in ferrets. and, even though it wasn't successful for some, it was for a couple. and that's a good start for developing a treatment that will always work. jenny is that rare; true gem that's sometimes found amongst the stones - shinely brightly for all to see. joclyn [Posted in FML 6389]