| Quarantining new ferrets - CLICK HERE for the Pet Manual Forum Home Page |
| lighthouseferret@aol.com |
I'm curious as to how many folks quarantine a new ferret before
introducing them to your ferrets.
I feel its important to ADV test, make sure they are UTD on all
vacs, and have nothing like ECE that might be passed to your ferrets.
And is it always good to push a new ferret on one of yours that is
depressed or just wants to be a loner. The stress could be harmful to
the ferret.
These babies depend on us to keep them safe. I like to do all I can
to assure their safety.
Millie
|
|
|
| Sandy and the Dook City Gang |
lighthouseferret@aol.com wrote:
> I'm curious as to how many folks quarantine a new ferret before
> introducing them to your ferrets.
>
I do a two week quarantine here, and try to make sure they're ADV
tested and vaccinated, before they get here.
> And is it always good to push a new ferret on one of yours that is
> depressed or just wants to be a loner. The stress could be harmful to
> the ferret.
>
This, I think, is a trial and error. When I lost my first ferret, my
other one was very depressed. A new little girl pulled him out of
depression. I believe if you show the body of the friend, they seem to
understand they're gone and do better.
>
> These babies depend on us to keep them safe. I like to do all I can
> to assure their safety.
>
I'm with you there.
|
|
|
| Kim Sikorski |
Right now I have a little girl hiding out in a little 2 story cage in my
bedroom. The bedroom is now off limits the the other ferrets until her
ADV test results come back, and I can get her vaccinated against
distemper and rabies. Her ADV test (United CEP) went out on earlier in
the week, and the vaccines should be here next Wednesday from United.
Until then, she stays in there, away from my other ferrets. When I
handle her, I throw on a tshirt that I keep in her room over whatever
I'm wearing, and take it off before I leave the room. I also thoroughly
wash my hands/arms/face as well, before and after I play with her. She
is allowed to play in the bathroom, since it's easy enough to mop up the
floor with parvocide when she's finished playing.
She was dumped on the doorstep in a carrier of the vets office where I
work. On a really hot day. Poor thing, some people are just jackasses.
Thankfully, she also has a home waiting for her once her clean bill of
health comes through (fingers crossed for a negative ADV test), and
she's vaccinated. She's a cute little blaze, and deaf as a stone.
She's young, maybe 1.5 - 2 years old, but her canine teeth are worn down
to nothing, I assume from being stuffed in a cage and biting on the bars
to get out. She's got a lovely temperment, and is very friendly and
playful, and by all visual signs looks to be a healthy little ferret. I
can only hope that the test results back that up.
Any ferret who is sick/depressed, I would never dream of putting another
ferret with them. Doing so could make them more stressed, and also
makes monitoring the sick ferret's food and water input/output.
I know it's nearly impossible to do a real quarantine in a home, because
of things like shared airconditioning and such, but this is the best
that I can do to protect her and my existing ferrets.
Here's the little girl, isn't she cute? I can't imagine someone just
dumping her.
http://www.pooflinger.com/0707smear.jpg
:)
kim
lighthouseferret@aol.com wrote:
> I'm curious as to how many folks quarantine a new ferret before
> introducing them to your ferrets.
|
|
|
| swamp |
On 14 Jul 2005 14:08:46 -0700, "Sandy and the Dook City Gang"
<kathouze@aol.com> wrote:
>I do a two week quarantine here, and try to make sure they're ADV
>tested and vaccinated, before they get here.
Seem to be picking on you tonite, Sandy... not intentional... This ADV
quarantine thing is a burr under my saddle.
As you note, the key is testing them *before* they arrive.There's no
ADV vaccine I'm aware of. The mink breeders tried plenty back in the
70-80s but never got one to work. They actually increased morbidity.
Once an animal arrives ADV+ you've got a quarantine problem.
Parvocides, "any"cides, and bleach won't do it alone. At that point,
you'd need a clean room and a sanitary shower between the + and -
areas. Think "Andromeda Strain" by Michael Crichton.
I don't mean to discourage quarantine here; it's just that ADV can
"live " in cloth, cages, hair, bedding, skin, etc. for 6-8 months
unless you bleach it, iodine it, or blast it w/ UV light. Not many
ferret facilities are equipped to handle lab-type sanitizing. I'd
cull, wait a year, and restart.
On the bright side, only 25% of ferrets are susceptible to ADV
regardless of degree of exposure.
I realize my opinion is unpopular, but that's the way I see it,
swamp
--
"Who me officer? What's a ferut. These guys?? No, they're Polish cats."
|
|
|
| tiggerbear |
swamp wrote:
"There's no ADV vaccine I'm aware of."
I'm sure Sandy meant ADV tested and rabies/distemper vaccinated.
"I don't mean to discourage quarantine here; it's just that ADV can
"live " in cloth, cages, hair, bedding, skin, etc. for 6-8 months
unless you bleach it, iodine it, or blast it w/ UV light.
On the bright side, only 25% of ferrets are susceptible to ADV
regardless of degree of exposure."
Where does this information come from? Is there a study(studies) that
prove how long the ADV virus lives outside a host, what kills it, or
anything in relation to how/when ADV is acquired? Please share your
sources.
|
|
|
| Razz |
lighthouseferret@aol.com wrote:
> I'm curious as to how many folks quarantine a new ferret before
> introducing them to your ferrets.
>
> I feel its important to ADV test, make sure they are UTD on all
> vacs, and have nothing like ECE that might be passed to your ferrets.
>
I do, or try to. I use a quick test before they ever come into the
house and the "real test" the next day. I keep them in one of the
upstairs bedrooms for two weeks (ADV tests are back before then) and use
oodles of parvocide on the area and on myself. I know it's not perfect,
but it's the best I can do.
Razz
|
|
|
| Sandy and the Dook City Gang |
I'm sure Sandy meant ADV tested and rabies/distemper vaccinated.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yes, that's what I meant. That's what I get for not proof reading.
|
|
|
| gator524@gmail.com |
I do a quick ADV test in my garage (or somewhere off the premises)
prior to bringing any ferret into my home. They are also bathed (I
have a sink in my garage), groomed, checked for fleas, earmites, etc.
prior to coming in. I sure don't want an infestation in my house if I
can help it. If they do have fleas (it seems that most who are dumped
are flea/mite infested), I try to get all of them off when bathing, and
then put Revolution on them afterward to try to prevent further
infestation.
I do quarantine for several days in a totally separate part of my
house. I now have my ferrets restricted to 3 rooms in the house. I
quarantine at the other end. I try to have them vet checked and at
least their rabies and first distemper prior to introductions.
It is a hassle but it's the right thing to do. It also gives the
newbie and you a chance to bond one-on-one. It is my opinion that a
newbie is terribly stressed from being passed along to a total stranger
(and many times they've been passed from home to home). I spend a lot
of time with the new ones, holding them a lot, quietly talking to them,
playing with them. I try to instill a sense of security. Of the many
dozens of ferrets who have come into my home, I have never once
experienced "shelter shock". It may be just dumb luck on my part, or
it may be because of the protocol I follow. I like to think it's
because of how I do it. I usually have them following me around like a
puppy within a couple of days.
When introductions are done, I stay right there and remove the newbie
if it gets at all ugly. I still allow them to stay with me for a while
longer, until they are comfortable.
Even with all of that, you can still bring in ECE or something else,
but we can only do what we can do. I had one bring ECE into my home a
number of years ago. Symptoms didn't show up (the carrier had no
symptoms) for nearly two weeks. Only two of mine ever developed
symptoms and we caught it quickly enough to keep it from getting too
terribly bad.
Such a simple thing to do; it amazes me that so many people just bring
in a newbie and dump it in with the others. I find that very
irresponsible and not looking out for the best interest of any of the
ferrets.
|
|
|
| Jason and Holly Harper |
Awww, she makes me think of my Stormy, although Stormy can hear. :) I
can't imagine anyone tossing her aside, but then I can't imagine any ferret
having to go through that. They're all lovable in their own ways. :)
Holly
"Kim Sikorski" <sikorski04@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:re-dnQNj_d04YkvfRVn-tw@comcast.com...
> Right now I have a little girl hiding out in a little 2 story cage in my
> bedroom. The bedroom is now off limits the the other ferrets until her
> ADV test results come back, and I can get her vaccinated against distemper
> and rabies. Her ADV test (United CEP) went out on earlier in the week,
> and the vaccines should be here next Wednesday from United. Until then,
> she stays in there, away from my other ferrets. When I handle her, I
> throw on a tshirt that I keep in her room over whatever I'm wearing, and
> take it off before I leave the room. I also thoroughly wash my
> hands/arms/face as well, before and after I play with her. She is allowed
> to play in the bathroom, since it's easy enough to mop up the floor with
> parvocide when she's finished playing.
>
> She was dumped on the doorstep in a carrier of the vets office where I
> work. On a really hot day. Poor thing, some people are just jackasses.
>
> Thankfully, she also has a home waiting for her once her clean bill of
> health comes through (fingers crossed for a negative ADV test), and she's
> vaccinated. She's a cute little blaze, and deaf as a stone. She's young,
> maybe 1.5 - 2 years old, but her canine teeth are worn down to nothing, I
> assume from being stuffed in a cage and biting on the bars to get out.
> She's got a lovely temperment, and is very friendly and playful, and by
> all visual signs looks to be a healthy little ferret. I can only hope
> that the test results back that up.
>
> Any ferret who is sick/depressed, I would never dream of putting another
> ferret with them. Doing so could make them more stressed, and also makes
> monitoring the sick ferret's food and water input/output.
>
> I know it's nearly impossible to do a real quarantine in a home, because
> of things like shared airconditioning and such, but this is the best that
> I can do to protect her and my existing ferrets.
>
> Here's the little girl, isn't she cute? I can't imagine someone just
> dumping her.
>
> http://www.pooflinger.com/0707smear.jpg
>
> :)
>
> kim
>
> lighthouseferret@aol.com wrote:
>> I'm curious as to how many folks quarantine a new ferret before
>> introducing them to your ferrets.
|
|
|
| swamp |
On 14 Jul 2005 23:41:58 -0700, "tiggerbear"
<tiggerbear2001@excite.com> wrote:
>swamp wrote:
>"There's no ADV vaccine I'm aware of."
>
>I'm sure Sandy meant ADV tested and rabies/distemper vaccinated.
I was pretty sure that's what she meant as well, but wanted to make
sure that other readers didn't start asking about a non-existent ADV
vaccine. Sandy clarified, no harm no foul.
>"I don't mean to discourage quarantine here; it's just that ADV can
>"live " in cloth, cages, hair, bedding, skin, etc. for 6-8 months
>unless you bleach it, iodine it, or blast it w/ UV light.
>On the bright side, only 25% of ferrets are susceptible to ADV
>regardless of degree of exposure."
>
>Where does this information come from? Is there a study(studies) that
>prove how long the ADV virus lives outside a host, what kills it, or
>anything in relation to how/when ADV is acquired? Please share your
>sources.
Suppose I should have done that first time, huh?:
J. Gorham, JB Henson, TB Crawford, GA Padgett, 1976, _The
Epitizootiology of Aleutian Disease_, "Slow Virus Diseases of Animals
and Man," RH Kimberlin, Frontiers of Biology, Vol 44.
followed by:
Cho Hyun J, _Purification and structure of Aleutian disease virus_,
and:
JB Henson, JR Gorham, TC McGuire, TB Crawford, _Pathology and
pathogenesis of Aleutian disease.
It's about 160 pages of really technical stuff. Took me two weeks w/ a
medical dictionary to partially understand, but I'm lousy at biology.
Maybe you'll be faster. There's info about what it takes to kill
(deactivate) ADV. There's also anecdotal data on how long it can live
unless deactivated, and some empirical data on how and why it's
sometimes not acquired, which I found the most interesting.
The book is available at any UC library or thru PubMed,
swamp
--
"Who me officer? What's a ferut. These guys?? No, they're Polish cats."
|
|
|
| swamp |
On 15 Jul 2005 01:00:21 -0700, "Sandy and the Dook City Gang"
<kathouze@aol.com> wrote:
>I'm sure Sandy meant ADV tested and rabies/distemper vaccinated.
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>Yes, that's what I meant. That's what I get for not proof reading.
I figured that's what you meant, but had to make sure. For every
poster there are 10 lurkers...
No worries,
swamp
--
"Who me officer? What's a ferut. These guys?? No, they're Polish cats."
|
|
|
| Joan |
Even if ADV were not an issue, quarantining new ferrets (particularly
those from an unknown background) is a necessity if one wants to avoid
bringing in disease. It also limits the stress the new one feels at
being in strange surroundings.
Putting a strange ferret in with one who is depressed or sick is just
asking for trouble, as it will stress both ferrets out, weakening the
immune system even more and making the possibility of disease in one or
both much more likely.
I can understand both practises in someone who knows nothing about
ferrets, as it comes from ignorance...hopefully, the person will learn
better without serious harm to the ferrets involved. In those who
should know better, it is unbelievably stupid and irresponsible.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
