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A Sad Announcement...December 25, 2002
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| I purchased Bo at a show from a breeder in December of 1999. He was a beautiful, fuzzy, fat eight month old. He had such an adorable face with a personality to match. About six months after I brought him home to my other three ferrets, he began to get sick. Mostly his symptoms at this time were Irritable Bowel types of concerns. We treated for IBD. Shortly thereafter Bo was diagnosed with an enlarged abdominal lymph node. It was biopsied for lymphoma but came back negative. I thought we dodged a bullet. Bo continued to have the IBS symptoms but eventually he started to get leg weakness. At one point, it was so bad that he could barely walk. The vet felt that this could be a symptom of extreme IBS. I remember asking if he thought it could be ADV. He said no and remarked that he has seen very few ADV cases. Well, I did some more research as Bo's front leg weakness travelled to his rear legs. This is common in ADV ferrets. I was scared. I changed vets and Bo had adrenal and insulinoma surgery. I also had Bo tested. He tested positive for ADV in October 2001 at two years old. We began pediapred right away. The leg weakness improved to some degree but Bo still has severe bowel irritability. He is now also on Imuran to help with those symptoms. On a side note, all of the other four ferrets that I have in my home have and continue to test negative for ADV. I do not know why but I treat them as if they are ADV positive and do not allow exposure to other ferrets. It is possible that their ADV status will change in the future. Please be sure to test all ferrets regularly, especially before introducing new ferrets to your business. I never would've exposed a fifth ferret to this horrible disease if I had known Bo's status.
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