From:
katharine
Date: 2001-09-18 16:53:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Quarantine Question
Christopher wrote:
<I was curious, especially with the shelters, how
long a new ferret
should be kept in quarantine from an existing
business of ferrets. <
I'm not a vet or a shelter but I do take in
rescues (mostly found wandering the streets with
no known background). My personal protocol is to
test for ADV before I even think about bringing
them into my house. Next, if the hours are right,
is a vet visit for a general check-up. A vet
visit will point out obvious things like ear
mites, parasites, etc. After that (and this is
the part where I'll probably be criticized), I
don't even try to quarantine, assuming all is OK
from the two steps above. I have never seen the
point in quarantining within the same
house/facility. And, if you do, for how long? I
just don't see how you can prevent disease from
spreading within the same house. Most of our
homes are not like hospitals where there are
quarantine facilities which are totally shut off.
I do put the newbies in a separate cage for a
while, mostly to let them get used to us and for
us to get used to them. I don't put it in a
separate room, if at all possible. Even if it is
in another room, my crew has run of the whole
house so there is still exposure..
Last year, when Chester and Dillon came to live
with us, one of my "old" crew came down with ECE a
full two weeks after they arrived. Another came
down with it 3 weeks after they arrived. ECE was
diagnosed through process of elimination (multiple
tests) and consultation with a vet school by my
vet. I know the general rule of thumb is that ECE
will be passed on within about 48 hours but that
wasn't out experience. So, even if I had
quarantined them for 10 days, I think we still
would have had ECE to deal with.
I believe it was this List where someone told how
she had quarantined her new ones at another house
for a couple of weeks and they still brought ECE
into her house. So, I don't even try to
quarantine after taking the initial precautions I
mentioned above. I just don't think it works.
Katharine