From:
"tansyhl"
Date: 2007-05-31 14:58:28 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Mycobacterium avium
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Just to follow up on what Sukie said, I am one of the few people who
has actually had a ferret with this disease. I was lucky in the
respect that my vet was able to identify it, and then the ferret was
driven over a holiday weekend 300 miles each way to visit someone
many of us consider the best ferret vet in the country. He actually
stopped breathing several times on the trip down to Virginia, but we
were able to keep him going and got him started on agressive
antibiotic therapy. This extended his life for about another 3 months.
This infection is related to TB and produced severe respiratory
problems in my ferret. It has been quite extensively studied because
it is a problem for HIV patients. It's source is still unknown since
the bacterium are found basically everywhere, but 2 sources that have
been identified as causing the illness are raw/ undercooked fish and
water from hot tubs.
PLEASE THINK CAREFULLY about what you are feeding/exposing your
ferrets to. This is a fatal, nasty disease. As I said, this bacterium
is everywhere so it's not just "bad" fish or "bad" hot tubs. No, I
didn't do either of these, but he was adopted and not sure what he
had been exposed to.
The only positive thing in the experience was at the time it was
unknown if the infection would be passed from ferret to ferret. It
wasn't. I only lost Rhett, but that was one ferret too many.
Val
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