Coccidia is another thing that pops up in times in ferrets. The trick with that is that two vastly different SIZES have to be looked for, and sometimes labs or vets only check with one magnification. Eimeria and Isospora are the two genera the vet has to be sure are checked for. Not all vets or labs know that ferrets get both, so mention both by name, please. There are a range of GI woes ferrets can get, i am afraid. About the coronavirus testing mentioned yesterday: Other labs can do a type of GENERAL coronavirus test. It will tell if the ferret had been significantly exposed to a coronavirus. It will not tell which type of coronavirus, though at this point there are only three which ferrets have gotten: SARS in laboratory settings when purposely infected and that can be automatically ruled out for many reasons, Systemic Ferret Coronavirus which is a mutant of ECE according to multiple genetic studies and behaves like FIP does in cats, and ECE which is a not uncommon illness of pet ferrets pretty much everywhere these days though not as commonly heard about as it was in past decades. Coronaviruses are pretty species-specific and are largely understudied. SARS began to change that back when it was brought into the human population in Asia with bushmeat eating (which is a pretty common way that multiple ancient illnesses have crossed into humans, with ebola probably being another bushmeat acquired example -- but NOT a coronavirus -- though ebola would have stayed isolated if there were not so many decent roads being put into jungles these days for mining and logging. Then again, so would SARS have stayed isolated without such roads since it came into China in bushmeat animals from a previously very isolated region.) More recently MERS-CoV crossing into the human population probably from camels (a coronavirus which ferrets do NOT get) also has indicated the need to better understand coronaviruses. Again, ferrets do NOT get MERS-CoV. Michigan State has the only lab that can do the genetic testing for the SPECIFIC type of coronavirus, so your vet will take that into account. http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu In this case, depending on the examination after you give full details, the vet might want to also be sure there is not a secondary infection so the lab may be testing for more than one illness. Some veterinary hospitals have contracts with certain labs. In those contracts the hospitals get a lot of free equipment but can not use a different lab. When that is the case, depending on the lab, it may not be possible to use a different lab at all, or the lab may charge a forwarding fee to forward the specimen to the other lab and that will increase the cost if a very specific test is needed, sometimes even doubling the cost. Personally, i worry about the limitations such contracts impose on testing quality, availability, and costs. If your vet has that kind of contract it may pay to just have the general coronavirus test run rather than genetic identification, and to check for possible secondary infection. [Posted in FML 8180]