From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2005-01-24 16:57:39 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] Mystery Infection
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <1095622.1106585859998.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
Author wrote:
> Boo-Boo is a MF ferret and he's a tad over 2. Could this DIM (what does =
that stand
> for?) be his problem?
No. Nothing ab out Boo-Boo is like DIM.
You can read a bit about DIM in =
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc =
and can watch there for an update later to the aritcle currently posted.
And you can read in the Archives of a number of ferrets who had DIM. Two w=
ith pretty classic presentations who lived long enough to show pretty well =
all of the symptoms which can occur including later-stage ones like the ski=
n ulcerations which at times happen after the disease has been present for =
a good while were Clara and Chiclet.
These ferrets have a sudden collapse, a white count which can exceed the le=
vels seen with lympho, actually reaching levels vets didn't even know could=
be reached in ferrets before this disease. They have sepsis and some have=
cellulitis. They run fevers -- with in the fevers breaks now and then -- =
which can get very high (105 and even sometimes over 106 'F), some have one=
or two suddenly swollen up nodes which can swell in just hours from being =
normal to being so large that if it happens to a node which is by a leg the=
leg is forced right out into a position where it can't be used. There sta=
rts being pronounced muscle weakness, to the point where the ferrets can ba=
rely move or may pull themselves around. Usually, though, the ferrets are =
very happy to eat as long as they are helped by having it offered on a fing=
er or in a spoon and the food is easy to eat (baby food, a/d, etc.); appeti=
te is usually fine for activity level and ditto thirst with most but the fe=
rrets simply lack the strength to do it on their own so need help. In many=
the symptoms can lessen for some symptoms (like fever) or can stop for a w=
hile only to start up again later. =
The disease is very rare and heartbreaking, though there is progress being=
made in finding what helps. (That happened with ECE -- which is far more =
common -- when it first appeared and now it only rarely kills whereas in th=
e earliest ferrets to break with it the disease was often fatal, but then t=
reatments were divised, and later the coronavirus found so that now there i=
s research with hopes of progressing further.) Hopefully, progress in trea=
tment will make many more advances, and the cause itself of this mystery di=
sease/DIM will be found.
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