From:
Outlaw50@aol.com
Date: 2001-06-29 05:00:00 UTC
Subject: Re: FERRET WISE - CLOSED Temporarily (& Charmin' Charlie)
In a message dated 6/29/01 6:09:21 AM Eastern Daylight Time,
Ferret-Health-list@yahoogroups.com writes:
that. I know you have your hands full, but when you get a chance
please post information on the ADV quicktest kit. Who makes it,
who
sells it, what's it cost... and where does one get it. What are
the
figures on false positives? False negatives? I think this is an
instance where advertising a product is a necessary evil.>
Chris,
The quicktest kit is similar to a home pregnancy test. You purchase
the kit
from Avecon (Dr. Stephon) and test your ferret at home using saliva.
I
believe the kits are $12.00 each or $10.00 if you purchase 10 or
more kits.
You can order them from Dr. Stephon's web site avecon@avecon.com.
Dr. Stephon wrote at length about the saliva test (testing and on
the test
itself) and that information is posted on Russian's web site.
(http://www.geocities.com/russiansmom/index.html).
Alicia...I can only thank you from the bottom of my heart for
posting that
you are testing and found an ADV positive little guy. You are NOT
the only
one who has found positive(s) through testing, but very, very few
people are
letting others know. I can understand why in some cases, but it
saddens me
because people are getting a false sense of "security"...it appears
that ADV
positive ferrets are rare...and that is simply not the case.
I know of ADV positive ferrets in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Oregon,
Texas,
New Mexico, Virginia, among others, and now New England.
Chris...trying to get a handle on how many ferrets there are that
are ADV
positive or that have Aleutian disease is a great idea! I hope you
have
better luck than we did.
Aleutian disease *is* killing ferrets. Many, many ferrets are
dying of it
in Texas. There have been deaths in Michigan, Oregon and Illinois,
among
other states.
Sadly, I lost my baby, Charmin' Charlie to Aleutian disease on June
24, 2001.
Charlie was only 2 1/2 years old. He became ill at 8 months of age
and was
diagnosed positively with Aleutian disease last year. I have 8
other ferrets
here right now that are ADV positive, several of which also have
clinical
Aleutian disease.
PLEASE TEST...ferrets can have clinical Aleutian disease yet look
perfectly
healthy. Since the antibodies attack the internal organs, the
ferret can be
close to death before symptoms appear. Other times, symptoms appear
that you
would not associate with Aleutian disease. Charlie's first illness
was
diagnosed as an intestinal obstruction, yet emergency surgery
revealed
nothing. What I noticed in my ferrets was a few days of lethargy,
not
wanting to eat, not wanting to be with their friends, and sometimes
fever.
The ferrets in Texas generally have hind leg paralysis and,
sometimes,
coughing.
Anytime you see hind leg paralysis, wasting or a finding of elevated
total
protein, elevated gamma globulin and low albumin (via a blood work
up), test
for ADV. It certainly will not always be Aleutian disease (most
often it
will not be), but these are signs that testing definitely should be
done.
Judy
Judy
Please give to Aleutian Disease research...the ferret you save may
be your
own!
http://www.geocities.com/russiansmom/index.html