From:
erka2719@aol.com
Date: 2001-09-08 00:10:00 UTC
Subject: Re: ECE?
I have a ferret recovering from ECE and I tried very hard to keep him
from being exposed. My new ferrets were quarantined in a separate
household...yet my ferret still got ECE. He is doing well...it has
been almost two months since the onset of symptoms. He is eating on
his own but still being fed soup several times each day. Due to the
strict precautions I was taking to quarantine the new guys, it was
almost a month before Fitz became ill. I must have slipped up and
taken a germ home by accident.
You can try to quarantine any of the ferrets that are not yet sick,
but if there is ECE in the household, any who have not previously
been exposed will probably become ill. MF ferrets have most likely
been exposed to ECE due to the large numbers of ferrets produced by
MF and being shipped to petstores where they are exposed to who knows
what.
Hopefully, no one else will become ill.
I did not have to give my ferret flagyl, he was on amoxi, though. He
was on pepto for a couple days but it did not seem to help. After a
few days, Fitz became very nauseous and uncomfortable. He did not
want to take his meds or eat anything. We went to a different vet
and he switched Fitz to Biaxin and started him on Pepcid A/C. He was
also taking metaclopramide syrup for the nausea. He began to improve
a couple days later. During the worst of the diarrhea, he was also
given subcutaneous fluids two to three times each day. After the
round of Biaxin was completed, he was on pred. for four weeks.
He is now off all meds and gaining his weight back (slowly but
surely). I think Fitz is slow to recover because he is four years
old,if yours are younger they may improve more quickly.
Best of luck,
Erica,
Buster, Honey, Fitz, (the ferrets)
Max, Jinx, Ripley, (the cats)
and Snoball, (the dog)