We just put the male of the pair that brought in the ECE to sleep. I am so broken-hearted and so are my volunteers. He was doing so well yesterday. He had been eating soup on his own for days (I thought he'd eat the bowl too yesterday.) and seeming more perky. I did the last feeding at midnight. Then, early this morning, he wouldn't eat. He seemed cooler to the touch than normal. I did a force-feeding after some Pepto and added extra Pedialyte. Less responsiveness at a second force-feeding later -- limp ragdoll. At 10:20 AM, he began to gnash his teeth, pant, and groan; I could hear him from the master bedroom, which is why I went to check off the 30 minute schedule (Well, at least the blindness gives me bat-like hearing.). He was covered in black tar goop head-to-tail. I bathed him, and he couldn't even hold his head out of the water. At the vet's, he began to bleed from his mouth -- and I mean dripping blood, not just a little on his lips (No ECE mouth ulcers though). His temp was 90.2, (He had been blown dry after his bath and kept wrapped up for warmth ever since, in consideration of how cool he'd seemed that morning, in case anyone thinks the bath chilled him). Slow, uneven heartbeat. There was nothing of this bright, beautiful albino ferret left. He needed antibiotics by I. He needed a four to seven day stay in intensive care. Even at that, the vet gave him almost no chance. His "improvement" had been his body using up its reserves, not a true recovery. Now, Casper is with the others, buried in rows along the back of our home. Is the ECE real? Some people need a lab report to tell them. Others of us say, know something like adrenal without a TN panel. Since the ECE test is so unreliable, two vets by phone, one vet in person, and a few shelters by phone are sure we have had ECE, we're skipping the invasive intestinal scraping. For those of you involved in the aspects of this mess on Facebook, know that I don't have a Facebook account. I tried to be vague in my FML post about which rescue gave Ferrets at Heart the sick ferrets. Unfortunately, I didn't know it was mentioned from their end on Facebook about giving us the ferrets. FMLers can add one and one, so I'm told. ECE would appear as shelter shock for a few days of incubation, until the greens begin, so no blame should be cast as far as anyone giving us ECE sick ferrets "knowingly". They probably had ECE before, and the stress of leaving home for the shelter brought it back. Let me be perfectly clear. ECE is a disease that is no one's fault. Once it is in a facility, you can't quarantine it away (once the incubation period has passed). We do not hold any other rescue financially responsible for the ECE outbreak. If not for them passing along ferrets they had for so little time, nearly 50 of their own ferrets would now be dead or be carriers. If our own few had to become ill to save many, then so be it, though we do not wish ECE on any ferret. If you have been chastising the other rescue on Facebook, please stop. What you are actually doing is straining relations between rescues in our area. The more you hurt the reputation of this other rescue, the more I am blamed for outing that the ferrets weren't quarantined for weeks before being passed to me. Plus, the owner of the rescue in question is also a member of another very trustworthy and upstanding rescue that you may also be harming in the process, and they are good neighbors. I've sometimes not quarantined ferrets before caging them in the same room with my others from unknown sources, thinking that these scary diseases weren't that common (though I've never taken one outside my home, other than to the vet, before one month had passed). I was naive and inexperienced. I know I've learned much from this disaster, and I am sure the other rescue has as well. Thank you to those of you who sent donations through PayPal. You helped us at the vet today, and we have some antibiotics for the cagemate of the one who just left us, since we expect an ECE relapse from the grief-stress. Our appreciation also for the packages of bedding, A/D, water bottles, and other items shipping out to us; it is a good feeling to know that warm-hearted ferret people are there. Remember to put your ferrets first. They come before your feelings, your wants, and your anything else. You can compensate for things that go amiss in your life, but your rescues have already sacrificed away their hearts and health and been rejected more times than you may ever know. With another at the Rainbow Bridge, Lori of Ferrets at Heart http://ferretsatheart.com/ [Posted in FML 7451]