CDV is much more easily passed by direct sharing or inhalation of body secretions, and those are the more usual routes for transmission, but notice that in the Washington State shelter they noticed that having cages near the garbage can with ferret waste may have played a part and so did using a shared little box scraper. Sent on to Ann and shared here: My eyes are tired now but I actually recently (and earlier) posted some links to info on CDV survival time outside the body. The fatty envelope is the key factor, so in light, heat, and dryness the virus can last for as short a time as a half hour outside the body, but when frozen it can perpetuate for years, allowing for the possibility of cross-contamination, too. In http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ I'll leave the subject line box empty but look for "fatty envelope" in the message body box from addresses beginning sukie or sukiec NOTICE that people who have not had measles and not had measles vaccines might be able to be silent CDV carriers, too. Here you go but you will find even more using those search configurations and my eyes are too tired for me to check those now, too, but I knew this one had a lot in it: http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL5340 Sukie (not a vet) Recommended ferret health links: http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/ http://ferrethealth.org/archive/ http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html http://www.miamiferret.org/ http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/ http://www.ferretcongress.org/ http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html all ferret topics: http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html "All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow." (2010, Steve Crandall) On change for its own sake: "You can go really fast if you just jump off the cliff." (2010, Steve Crandall) [Posted in FML 7105]