Darlene
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Posts: 287
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Post by Darlene on Aug 11, 2010 14:37:15 GMT -5
A friend was sent this and she passed it on to me. I want to pass this on for anyone who has RC ferrets. Very important to read. Subject: Re: Real Canadian Ferrets Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2010 20:54:22 -0300 Hi Folks, Dr. Jerry Murray has contacted me to say that it has been confirmed that Real Canadian Ferrets are the source of a new mycoplasmic respiratory infection caused by a bacterium. The findings were presented to an international audience at the Exotics conference in San Diego, CA this past week. My understanding is that the head veterinarian for the Manitoba SPCA has been made aware of the situation and an investigation will be conducted. If you get Real Canadian Ferrets, please alert your veterinarian and isolate them because this bug is highly infectious and causes a hacking cough. There is a recent article describing the research that is being done at University of Massachusetts by Matti Kiupel in the current issue of Ferrets Magazine on this disease: www.smallanimalchannel.com/ferrets/ferret-health/how-msu-is-helping-ferrets-2.aspxWarmest Regards, Tressie T. A. Dutchyn, PhD (c) Research Project Coordinator Cannabis & Traffic Collisions Study Dalhousie University Community Health & Epidemiology Faculty of Medicine tressie.dutchyn@dal.ca
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Post by sherrylynne on Aug 11, 2010 19:31:13 GMT -5
Thanks for posting this, Darlene! I do know a young woman who has two RC ferrets. The difficult part is going to be how to tell her so she doesn't panic.
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Post by Heather on Aug 11, 2010 22:21:50 GMT -5
How far back, or how old do these ferrets have to be? I've got 2 RC ferrets in house right now, but Captain Jack is 5 (he did have an upper respiratory infection and I almost lost him but it was treated) and I've just got a new one Yuri who is 3 or 4. Other than being very thin, he doesn't appear to have any problems. ciao
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Post by mustelidmusk on Aug 11, 2010 22:53:56 GMT -5
Darlene - Thanks for sharing. We did see some RC's here in Colorado, although I haven't seen one in ages....they are big, gorgeous, and feisty Years ago, somebody here was importing/breeding them and keeping the stock pure Canadian. Most of them were DEWs, so I wonder if line breeding ultimately resulted in genetic issues, which may have caused the breeder to retire from breeding.... .... Even though I don't let my brats mingle with other ferts, the vet's office can always be a potential source for "cooties". I will share this info with my vet so they can be prepared if they start to see any unusual trends and/or unusual cases. -jennifer
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Post by tink80 on Aug 11, 2010 23:19:04 GMT -5
Oh, dear. I have two RC ferrets. And 2 of my other ferrets have an unexplained cough.
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Post by Heather on Aug 11, 2010 23:22:08 GMT -5
Take this information to your vet ASAP. You may have to treat all your little ones but at least you might have finally found an answer ciao
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Post by tink80 on Aug 11, 2010 23:29:39 GMT -5
I just sent it to her facebook email. This sucks.
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Post by tink80 on Aug 11, 2010 23:52:12 GMT -5
She's already responded. She is going to investigate this and is taking it seriously as she has a household of ferrets in her clientele that have unexplained chronic respiratory infections. Our local Petco only sells RCs so it could be a total outbreak locally if this is true.
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Darlene
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Posts: 287
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Post by Darlene on Aug 12, 2010 1:35:51 GMT -5
I had my friend email Tressie,to find out how to test for this. My big boy Koby who will be 4 in Oct. has coughing episodes about 2-3 times a year. When he was about 3 mths old it started lasted for a few weeks off and on. It was a horrible hack. The vet could find nothing wrong. He'll then go for months without incident,it doesn't seem to slow him down at all. Anyways here's the response from Tressie:
11/10, Tressie Dutchyn <tressiedu@hotmail.com> wrote:
From: Tressie Dutchyn <tressiedu@hotmail.com> Subject: RE: Mycoplasmic respiratory infection To: "Lynne Fink" <ferretladylynne@yahoo.com> Received: Wednesday, August 11, 2010, 3:08 PM
Hi Lynne,
I wrote to Dr. Kiupel and asked him that very question, this was his reply:
ask your vet to do a bronchialveolar lavage and submit it to us for culture for mycoplasma, we have good results with this, treatment and behavior is similar to what has been described with M. pulmonis in mice, so long term antibiotics (doxoxyclins etc.) seem indicated, but this is all based on experience of one vet Dr. med. vet. Matti Kiupel, BS, MS, PhD, DACVP Fachtierarzt für Veterinär Pathologie Associate Professor, Section Chief Anatomic Pathology Michigan State University Department of Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation Diagnostic Center for Population and Animal Health 4125 Beaumont Road, Room 152A Lansing, MI 48910 USA Tel.: ** 517 432 2670 Fax.: ** 517 432 6557
Now I discussed this with my vet because I have one ferret who's had a chronic hacking cough for two years and everything else has been ruled out (i.e., heart disease, etc.). She is NOT a RCF, however, was in an SPCA animal shelter for several months and may have picked it up there.
The test is difficult and invasive and best left to the experts, like a teaching veterinary hospital. My vet is not comfortable performing the test and has decided to go with the clinical symptoms and so I am waiting for the antibiotics to come in.
So I wrote to Dr. Jerry Murray and asked him what the treatment protocol for mycoplasmosis is and this was his reply:
Hi Tressie Yeah doxycycline at 10 mg/kg twice a day (They make a liquid version that if I remember right is cherry flavored and ferrets like it.) with Baytril 10 mg/kg 2 times a day for months. Cough suppressants, bronchodilators, and antiinflammatories (pred or Metacam) may help too. Hope that helps, Jerry
There you have it!
Warmest Regards, Tressie
T. A. Dutchyn, PhD (c) Research Project Coordinator Cannabis & Traffic Collisions Study Dalhousie University Community Health & Epidemiology Faculty of Medicine tressie.dutchyn@dal.ca
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Darlene
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Posts: 287
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Post by Darlene on Aug 12, 2010 1:50:09 GMT -5
How far back, or how old do these ferrets have to be? I've got 2 RC ferrets in house right now, but Captain Jack is 5 (he did have an upper respiratory infection and I almost lost him but it was treated) and I've just got a new one Yuri who is 3 or 4. Other than being very thin, he doesn't appear to have any problems. ciao I'm not sure,I'm wondering the same thing. I get the feeling it could have been going on for a while. Koby will be four. Since his cough isn't ongoing I'm not sure what to think.
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Post by katt on Aug 12, 2010 3:24:37 GMT -5
Do they ALL have it? Koda is an RC, he coughs on occasion, but usually only when he is eating or getting into things. Usually he sneezes if anything. I don't have other ferts though so I don't know what is "normal." He seems healthy and happy. Does this bacteria affect humans? How much does that testing cost on average (I know it varies, but perhaps an estimate)?
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Post by katt on Aug 12, 2010 3:35:59 GMT -5
Ok Questions number 2. You said it is caused by a bacteria. Well Koda definitely seems to cough less since his surgery, I assumed it was bc we keep a much closer eye on him now and he gets into things. Could it be because he was on antibiotics, so the bacteria was (in theory, unless it is resistant) killed? Others with healthy RC ferrets - have they been on antibiotics at all?
If I get another RC ferret, should I have it tested/treated with antibiotics to be safe?
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Emilee
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Posts: 240
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Post by Emilee on Aug 12, 2010 9:45:48 GMT -5
Sherry emailed me the link to this fortunately, otherwise I would have completely missed it! Unfortunately I haven't spent as much time on HF as I'd like, but when I get my new raw boy soon I hope I'll be on more! Anyway, Tootsie is a RCF and she's turning two in December. I don't know whether I should be concerned about this or not, she does have cough/hacking attacks, but moreso in the summer. They also happen usually when she's getting into trouble and could hit her nose or something, as whenever she hits her nose she will sneeze and cough and so on. They only last for about 5-10 seconds, then she just happily continues on with whatever it was that she was doing. Other than that, she has NO signs of illness except for being a tiny thing. She is extremely hyper, playful, and bad.
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Post by Heather on Aug 12, 2010 13:15:29 GMT -5
Captain Jack has been on antibiotics big time. Just after he came in (about 1 or 2 months) he got very sick with an upper respiratory. He was on antibiotics for about 2 months and it took another 3 or 4 months after that before he stopped coughing. His was a deep wheezing cough. The vet at the time wasn't happy with his response to the antibiotics but because nothing appeared to be really working stopped and decided to do a hold and see. We had wondered if he had heart issues but everything came back clear. I used a vibactra series x 2 and he seemed to come along after that. He no longer sneezes or coughs any worse than any of the other kids. He is adrenal positive and has never put on the weight that he had before being sick. Yuri has just come in, he doesn't appear to cough at all. Other than being horribly thin (he's not fond of any food so far) he appears to be a healthy fert. I will keep an close eye on him. His people (unusual in the type of dump that occurred) did keep him up to date with the vet and I could call her and find out if she ever treated him for an upper respiratory infection. ciao
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Emilee
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Posts: 240
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Post by Emilee on Aug 12, 2010 20:21:24 GMT -5
I told my mom and we're planning to call the vet early next week. I'm planning to test Tootsie, and if it's positive then I'm just going to treat her and Jasper. Jasper is a Marshall, so if Tootsie tests negative then is there any reason to test him?
I kind of want to get this ironed out before Percy comes into the equation so that I have one less ferret to medicate if she does come up positive.
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