Please, note that we still do not know if the abberations people are seeing are one disease or multiple diseases, nor do we know if the what is being seen is something new, something known but rarely looked for, something which has modified (such as by not being as easily diagnosed, or by not being a easily treated with the usual meds, or by increasing its host options). THE ONLY WAY WE ARE GOING TO GET ANSWERS IS IF PEOPLE DO THE NECROPSIES AND PATHOLOGY WORK NEEDED!!!!!!! That is what will save ferret lives in the long run. If you have a very suspicious case which fits the umbrella me know and I'll get the pathologist (top-notch ferret-specialist who is right now overworked, short on time, and requested some privacy) in touch with your vet; include symptoms, particulars about the ferret (age, gender, brief medical history), and your vets' name, location, phone number and preferably e-mail if it exists. If pathology has been done by another, please, find out by whom in case slides can be shared. PLEASE, FOLKS!!!! PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE!!!!! The answers needed to save ferrets' lives can't be gotten if the testing isn't done!!!!! (BTW, since some of what folks are seeing is so dangerous -- one shelter was reported as having lost 15 in week -- that there has so far been one gathering instructed by their consulting vet to not have ferrets present because that locale has been hard hit by disease(s?) recently.) One pathology report has come back as being coccidea. Sometimes this disease is hard to diagnose, sometimes not from what I've been told. Coccidea is one excellent reason to have any new additions to your families receive fecal tests by vets BEFORE you put everyone together (in addition to getting a check-up, scheduling the shots, and having the teeth checked since teething problems hurt both the ferret and you -- since they try to gnaw away the pain). Otherwise, rather than treat only one, you have to treat all of them and you risk losing them to a disease which might have been prevented had it been found and treated. [Posted in FML issue 2434]