From:
"Danee DeVore"
Date: 2005-02-22 01:43:31 UTC
Subject: RE: i would like to get your ideas about what has happened to my ferrets
To: "Ferret Health List" <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <421A8E43.30303@aol.com>
ferret@ferret.lt wrote on 2/21/2005, 11:50 AM:
>
> If this was lymphoma, what are the chances that my other two ferrets
> will get sick as well?
>
> I=E2=80=99m also thinking a lot about what could I do to make our vets =
more
> competent in the subject? I was trying to find some kind of
> international seminars or conferences where they could go mostly not
> to learn but to get more interested in the matter and to make good
> acquaintances, but I was not able to find any.
>
> I will appreciate any of you thoughts or suggestions.
Hi Jone,
I am very sorry to hear about your losses. It sounds like you are
certainly doing everything you can for your ferrets.
I have a few thoughts and suggestions for you.
First, let me start off by saying I am not a vet. I have, however,
shared my home with ferrets for about 20 years, and was a ferret breeder
for several years.
I suspect that the clostridium may well have been what killed the kits
from the second litter. While some of the vets over here say that
clostridium is not a problem for ferrets, I have a friend who lost
several ferrets in a very short period of time. The necropsy and
pathology results - done by ferret knowledgeable vets and pathologists,
determined the cause of death to be clostridium. These ferrets were
adults, and were sick with severe diarrhea for several days before
dying. However, kits will often succumb to things much faster then adults.=
And, given what you told us about your jill, it sounds like she may have
had juvenile lymphoma. Juvenile lymphoma usually is more aggressive
then other lymphomas. And, because it affected her pancreas, it is not
unusual that she suffered symptoms of insulinoma.
As to your remaining ferrets, they may not be affected by the lymphoma.
There is one type of lymphoma that is caused by a virus, but it is not
very common in ferrets.
On getting your vets better educated on ferret care - are they agreeable
to traveling to attend conferences? We have 2 event coming up here in
the US and Canada - one in April of 2005 and a second in June of 2006.
There will be talks on ferret health issues at both of these meetings.
If some vets from your country were willing to come over and attend,
they would be able to learn from the talks, and would also be able to
meet some very respected ferret specialists who they could later consult
with by email.
If you would like more information on the events I mentioned, visit:
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
Beyond that, you can encourage them to read some of the websites that
vets in this country have created, as well as sites with articles by
vets sponsored by ferret lovers and ferret clubs. Just getting your
vets to join this list could be helpful, as there are vets on this list
who do post regularly.
Finally, I do know of one very good ferret vet in the Netherlands.
While that is still a long way from where you are, she is much closer
that we are here in the US. The Netherlands also has a very active
ferret group, and they might be able to help you find resources closer
to where you are.
I hope some of this is helpful to you.
-- =
Danee
International Ferret Congress Health Issues Coordinator
http://ferretcongress.org
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