From:
Motor City Ferrets
Date: 2008-02-15 03:22:40 UTC
Subject: Re: Coccidia and the Ohio rescue ferrets Re: [ferrethealth] Digest Number 1054
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
I wish our experience with coccidia had been so "easy." We lost 7 of the 42 ferrets in our Shelter at the time (June, 2006); at least 3 were otherwise healthy. We originally treated with albon for 21 days (and then all the new critters during the outbreak had a similar course of treatment) and our outbreak cannot be considered "over" until November, 2006 - at which time we took in surrenders that didn't develop it (that we can tell).
We did stool checks until I was nearly dizzy...and they were just about useless. I knew before a stool check who was having an outbreak from the poop and overall sickness. One of our girls, little miracle Agnes (still with us today after surviving the parasite and she's also had adrenal for 3+ years; she's at least 7 now), had 9 toes in the grave when her stool was checked. She had been going downhill for several days, on albon even before symptoms developed (once we discovered coccidia was afoot, everyone went on the 21 day treatment), then massive support and ulcer meds (secondary problem, with a perforation claiming the life of one of our 6 year olds - one of the 7 deaths), but still she declined. Finally overnight she lost all her color, so we were in the vet's office in the morning for a possible transfusion. While we were at it, the gals ran the stool check again and didn't find ANY eggs! They were stunned...she was so clearly sick...so they
checked again: ONE egg, even as sick as she was. Talk about pesky vermin!!! Last we heard from the pathologist who did the necropsies, the coccidia our ferrets had was until that date unknown, so perhaps it was a new strain. I'm not sure what the pathologist ever ended up with; our friends in that department have left for other pastures and I keep forgetting to follow up.
[Moderator's Note: See
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YPG550
The Genus and species found to be causing the really bad outbreak
in recent years was
Eimeria furonis
instead of the more usual and more easily treated Isospora
For a list of the various coccidia ferrets can get see:
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG17961 ]
Not too long after our outbreak was over I spoke to a Shelter operator in Arkansas (if memory serves) who also ended up with an outbreak. Again if memory serves, she was a nurse and that's why she was so sensitive to smell...? So she detected something "new" when critters started getting sick, then her vet thought sure it was coccidia but she couldn't find any eggs in the poop, they started albon anyway since the vet was nearly positive...critters were dying even (she lost about the same percentage of her population, again if my memory is working)...then finally, one stool sample had some eggs. Again, pesky vermin!
What I learned is coccidia can be in a body for quite some time, undetected. Our outbreak was in Summer 2006. One critter had a "flare up" in December, 2006, while another just had a "flare up" in December, 2007! Both "flare ups" (I'm not sure what else to call them) happened after critter had some stress. For the first critter, t'was the emergence of insulinoma. For the second, it was simply the stress of a visit to make a new friend after her buddy had passed away (with his loss being stress #1, I'm sure) We now consider anyone who set paw in this house from May, 2006 until December, 2006 to be "exposed," and it's something for the owners to check for (and treat with albon just in case sometimes) at any sign of trouble. The second critter I mentioned visited our place on Sunday, bounced around for a while - having been "fine" and right as rain, and then ended up in the emergency room Tuesday night. Her stool sample was full of eggs. And she
was a healthy, happy youngster who hadn't been "sick" during the outbreak!
So I would think that what might have happened with the DMK older ferrets is perhaps their immune systems just weren't astough as those of the young'uns and that's why the stress of the moveallowed a "flare up." Were I to deal with any of the DMK ferrets, I would certainly consider them "exposed" and look for coccidia at any sign of poopie-trouble-clues. For us the parasite was EASILY transferred from critter to critter. I mean sure, we're FAR from perfect when it comes to cleaning every surface...but we really did try our level best and tried many different things over many months, so that tells me it isn't hard for the parasite to get around and survive some pretty intense attempts to eradicate it.
Coccidia made it from our downstairs level ferret room to our upstairs ferret room despite our regular sanitary practices. It lingered for months, despite our nearly frantic efforts to clean everything sufficiently. It survived in critters who were never obviously sick but took albon anyway, as well as those who were sickened during the outbreak but were successfully treated. Coccidia now scares the living crap out of me and I fear it coming in with each new surrender, and our standard course of isolation and caution is clearly no barrier to everyone in our home potentially falling victim. We're not sure who brung it...could have been a new surrender...perhaps one of the two newly surrendered boys who got sick first, could have been a resident who developed an ailment around that time...we just don't know. But now we consider each ferret that sets paws in our Shelter to potentially have coccidia on board, just waiting for the right moment to wreak
havoc. :(
Nanci
Motor City Ferrets
www.motorcityferrets.org
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