# Dying Ferret??



## Shelley (Jan 15, 2007)

Hi,my friend has a ferret that is about 10 months old ( i think). He has lost weight dramatically(the ferret not my friend!!!),keeps falling over when he walks and has dark 'tar' like stools.
His eyes are really bright tho and he is drinking and eating tiny amounts.
He seems to think it is AVD,just wondered if anybody else had any ideas????
He also has a jill but she's fine.


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## Karl_1989 (Jan 19, 2007)

*lol why is this in feeder? I was expecting you to say will it be ok to feed to my snake:rotfl:*


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## Fixx (May 6, 2006)

Vets immediately. Do you know if it has had it's jab's?


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## Shelley (Jan 15, 2007)

sorry guys,put it in here by mistake :banghead: mods could you move it for me pls???


Karl_1989 said:


> *lol why is this in feeder? I was expecting you to say will it be ok to feed to my snake:rotfl:*


If i had a snake that would prob be my next question lol(only joking by the way)



Fixx said:


> Vets immediately. Do you know if it has had it's jab's?


i don't know about jabs but he had it 'done'(spade or neutered,not sure which is which lol) so don't know if it would have had jabs then????


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## smart275 (Oct 4, 2007)

get it to the vets when you say its lost weights dramasticly how long of a period of time do you mean 

weeks/ months / days???

it has tar like stools how oftern is it going ???

what is the conditions of the enclosure for it ??

how long has the other one been in with it ?/?

did you get one before the other??


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## Nerys (Apr 18, 2005)

Mmmm

he is describing similar symptoms to what you would see yes..

there is more than one strain of AVD, which is a strain of parvo virus, and there is at the moment, no treatment and no cure

transmissin if via both airbourne and contact, and the virus can survive for a long long time without the animal needing to be present

you can get ferrets who are carriers, but who do not show signs of the illness

its characterised by long term weight loss, weakness or paralysis due to spinal cord damage, lethery, tarry stools (from blood in the stool) and tremors. it also presents with organ damage, to for instance, the kidney and liver. it can also cause sudden death.

diagnosing it is not easy, you need a blood test called a protein electrophoresis which tests for the marked increase in gammaglobulins, and a Counterimmune electrophoresis. but postive results to these are not always shown in ferrets with AVD, and other illnesses can produce results which mirror those seen in avd. in the usa there is now a test called an ELISA test which is said to be highly sensitive and specific for avd

some good links here:


*Ferret ADV.com*
*Aleutian Mink Disease Parvovirus (In Mink and Ferrets) by M. A. McCrackin Stevenson, DVM PhD, et al *
*Aleutian Disease by Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP*
*Aleutian Disease in Ferret by Richard R. Nye, DVM and Susan A. Brown, DVM*
*White Russian's Page*
*ADV List (Yahoo Discussion Group)*
N


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## Shelley (Jan 15, 2007)

thanks guys for your help but he sadly died this afternoon :sad:
this has come on in a matter of days.
thanks again for your input...much appreciated x


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## Catherine896 (Jul 27, 2007)

Aww Im so sorry.
RIP little ferret


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## Iliria (Jan 19, 2007)

r.i.p


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## smart275 (Oct 4, 2007)

r.i.p little one sorry for your friends loss


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## joe0709 (Sep 22, 2007)

im sorry for your loss r.i.p little ferret


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