Drawing blood for ADV testing does not have to be a complete nightmare. ADV is a serious, fatal and contagious disease in ferrets and minks. For more information on ADV please see my friend Lisa's site at http://www.ferrethaven.org/advtest.html.
Updated Packaging Requirements and Shipping Address are below.
Get your supplies together. Here I have tape, a piece of cardboard or other sturdy material with all the testing ferrets names written on them (please DO NOT place labels directly on the capillary tubes), a pen, hematocrit tubes, a shallow bowl with parvocide (Nolvasan in my case), nail trimmers, and sealing clay. Not pictured in this shot is the dish with the styptic powder. You can purchase the hematocrit tubes your vet. Even some human doctors may have them. They are also known as Capillary Tubes.
Wake up your first test subject, in my case, Underdog. I have better success doing this solo with sleepy ferrets.
Soak your nail trimmers in the parvocide. Also be sure to wash your hands.
I do my ADV tests by myself, so in order to clip the nail short, I scruff the ferret with my mouth, and use my hands to manipulate the ferret's paws, and to clip. Don't clip too far up into the quick or the bleeding is harder to stop. Just a little into the pink should get you plenty of blood.
After the nail has been trimmed too short, and is bleeding, hold one end of the hematocrit tube up the the flow of blood. Point the other end of the tube down, and gravity will fill the tube with blood from the nail. For each ferret you test, send in two (2) hematocrit tubes filled with blood. Once you have the tubes of blood, lay them down onto a flat surface until you have stopped the bleeding of the nail.
Once the tubes are filled, it is time to stop the bleeding. You can use quick-stop, a commercial brand of styptic powder, silver nitrate sticks, or corn starch to stop the bleeding. I have a dish of corn starch here.
Take a pinch of the styptic powder, place it on the bleeding nail, and apply pressure for about fifteen seconds. That should stop the bleeding. If it does not, repeat and hold for 30 seconds.
Once the bleeding is controlled, go back to the two tubes of blood you have lying on the flat surface. Hold your finger over one end and pick them up, sort of like when you were a kid and you'd put your finger over a straw full of soda. Stick one end of the tube into the sealing clay, and release your finger. This will hold the blood in the tube. Do not seal both ends, as it makes it harder for the technicians at Blue Cross to remove the blood from the tubes. If you stick the tube into the sealing clay about 1/4" or less, that will be plenty of clay to seal the tube.
When the tube is sealed, it should looks something like this.
Take both tubes, and associate them with the ferret's name. I use scotch tape to tape them under their names..
Time for sanitation. Place the nail snips into the parvocide, get up and go wash your hands. Get a fresh paper towel if you're using that to wipe at your ferrets feet to make sure the bleeding has stopped.
Get your next victim, and repeat as necessary until all the ferrets in your home have samples ready for testing. .
Now, for the non photo necessary stuff.
Take the cardboard or material with the samples and names on it, and pack in a box with packing materials so its shock, drop and hopefully kick resistant by the shipping agency. It is recommended that you use UPS or FedEx Next Day service from most areas, however other overnight services are acceptable. I mail the samples to Blue Cross Animal Hospital at:
Blue Cross Animal Hospital
ATTENTION: Dr. Blau - CEP TESTS
401 N. Miller Avenue
Burley, ID 83318
Before sending the samples, I also call Blue Cross Animal Hospital at 1-208-678-5553 and alert them to the fact that the samples are on their way, and give them my credit card information for billing at that time. Blue Cross Animal Hospital charges $10.00 for each sample sent in. In the case of the five samples that I just collected for this photo essay, the total would be $50.00.
Results are normally available 5 business days after the samples are received. You may call in for results, receive them in the mail, or request at time of shipment that they be faxed to you.
Testing for ADV is so important. To paraphrase Danee Devore, "if you don't test, you don't know". Knowledge is power. Test your ferrets for ADV today, please.
Copyright 2003 - 2006, Kim Sikorski & pooflinger.com
