ADV Test Clinics

[ferretfan]

We will be holding two ADV Test Clinics on Monday, September 3 from 1pm to 4pm.

One will be held in the West End at 2 Karendale Street in Barrhaven (near Woodroffe and Strandherd).

The other will be held in the East End at 2450 Braeburn Place in Blackburn Hamlet (near Innes Road and Orient Park Drive).

The cost is $10 per ferret and it's first come, first served. Don't forget, if you're a paid member, you receive one free test annually!  Also, if you had your ferret tested before last years fall frolic, they are now due to be retested.

Please Let Us Know if you are planning on attending either test clinic so we know approximately how many ferrets to expect at each one.

If you have any questions, need directions to one of the clinics or if you need your ferrets tested and cannot attend these test clinics, please Contact Us. If you cannot find the test clinic locations on the dates of the tests, call the FRSO Cell phone at 613-296-4357 for assistance.

Thank you.

[ferretfan]

To our Members and Friends

The results from the latest ADV clinic (Sept 3, 2007) are in. With the exception of two tests, all samples tested were negative.

As for the remaining two, one sample did not contain enough blood to test as the sample leaked and the other sample tested positive. It should be noted that the "positive" ferret has no symptoms and is otherwise healthy and has previously tested negative.  Also note that the other 18 ferrets in this home all tested negative.

All the ferrets in this home will be re-tested monthly for the next two to three months as the current tests for ADV are known to have both false positives and false negatives (in other words, they are not completely reliable).  In addition, all the ferrets from other homes that have recently had direct contact with ferrets from this home will be tested in one month.   Once we hear the results of all the tests (over the next two months) we will let you know.

So, what does this mean to the FRSO, public and the Frolic. We are in close consultation with Dr. Auger of Blair Animal Hospital on this issue. The first thing is not to panic. The ferret in question, and all other from that household, have been quarantined. Furthermore, as a precautionary measure, all ferrets in other households that may have been in either direct or indirect contact with the ferret that tested positive have been quarantined and will be retested in a month. Since there are no specific symptoms for this virus, an ADV positive ferret could be perfectly healthy, and may even test negative for ADV at certain times. On the other hand, a sick ferret could have ADV or a number of other diseases or problems.  Only through a series of tests will we be able to determine if any of these ferrets actually have ADV.

Please note that given the fact that these households contain foster ferrets, any/all adoption request for ferrets which are quarantined are on hold until we have all of them re-tested in order to ensure that they are still ADV negative.

This being said and with all of the precautionary measures taken, we will still be holding the frolic. The only noticeable change is that only a limited number of ferrets from non-quarantined foster homes will be attending.

As always, we ask that you leave sick ferrets at home, and remind you that no matter what precautions we take, it's always possible to pick up a virus, mites, or other "bugs" at an event where many animals interact with each other. In light of these events, we wish to take this opportunity to remind everyone that for the health and safety of all ferrets attending our events, we ask that all ferrets have their Distemper and Rabies shots up-to-date and that they are tested at least once a year for ADV and have received a negative result.

You can find more information on ADV on our website at
http://ferretrescue.ca/faq-e.php#ADV . As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to contact us.

The Board
Ferret Rescue Society of Ottawa and Area
www.ferretrescue.ca
613-296-4357

 

[ferretfan]

Some good news!

We retested all the ferrets in the home that had the Positive result as well as all the fosters in our main foster home and ALL tests were NEGATIVE, including the ferret that had the positive test last month.  We'll retest this ferret at our November 4 test clinic to be sure, to be sure, but are now fairly certain that last months test was a false positive.  Thank you for your patience and understanding during the past month.