Message Number: YG5650 | New FHL Archives Search
From: Mike Janke
Date: 2001-07-19 19:01:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Isolating new ferrets

Quarantine in the same house for ECE would be extremely difficult, if
not impossible. Not just because of the cleanliness procedures that
would have to be followed, but because of the amount of time one
would have to do this. One moment of forgetfulness over the course
of 6 months to a year and all that care would be undone. And who
would want to have to keep a new ferret separate for that long.

I worked for a couple years at our ECE infected shelter and always
was up to my elbows in poop there since I primarily cleaned
litterboxes and cages. When I got home, I stripped in the garage,
threw everything in the washer, slipped on some flip-flops and went
right into the shower. Afterwards, I went back out and disinfected
the doorknob, the steering wheel on my truck, the brake/gas pedals,
etc. Did I mention I'm a bit paranoid? :-)

In all that time, I never brought ECE home to my ferrets. They
became infected when I brought home 10 week old Penny (not from our
shelter) who was supposed to be ECE free.

mike


--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., shurcool@i... wrote:
> --- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "Mike Janke" <mjanke@m...> wrote:
> > Perhaps I'm overly paranoid, but I wouldn't expose my ferrets to
> > distemper even with current vaccinations. The odds of a ferret
> > having distemper are probably extremely remote.
>
> I wasn't suggesting that anyone would intentionally expose their
> ferrets to distemper. It's just something I've never worried
about.
> Of course, I don't think that a quarantine in the same house
prevents
> ECE either. I guess I'm a little lax on quarantines. Now you've
> given me something else to worry about <g>.
>
> Katharine