From:
Sukie Crandall
Date: 2001-05-20 23:33:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Rabies? Can you tell?
>how can you tell if a Ferret has rabies? what are the signs? or is there a
>good site to read up on this..
>
>now if someone adopted ferrets with no history and then they get bit and
>draw blood
>are them human sign's to watch for?
>
>no this did not happen to me but to a friend
>
>THanks
Well, the very good news is that, yes, you can tell quite soon
afterward, and that infected ferrets develop strong neurological
symptoms quite rapidly, so that removes the guess work that existed
before studies on this had been done.
There used to be real problems with situations in which owners,
breeders, and pet stores found themselves pressured by a parent whose
kids (who sometimes were hurting the ferrets with pokes and the like)
got nipped, and even some in which a ex decided to cause problems by
insisting that non-existent bites had taken place and demanding
destruction.
Why did you friend think that rabies may be present? It's quite
rare. What happened?