Meet Aqua and Luna, previously known as Bilbo, two charming ferrets I purchased from Petco a week ago, arriving at the store two weeks prior. When I acquired them, I overlooked several red flags: an unkempt cage, a staff member who seemed to mishandle them, and the apparent stress they were under, as evidenced by their chewing through their cardboard boxes.

Petco even suggested an excessively large play pen (see my profile for the video). Upon bringing them home, I found them to be quite adventurous yet unusually nippy, but we are addressing this behavior through training. However, from day one, sneezing and coughing were prevalent, beginning with Luna and then spreading to Aqua. It started immediately upon their arrival, occurring 5-20 times a day.

After a week, noting some improvement but also some escalations (like green poop), I reached out to vets. The vet at the Petco where I bought them refused to treat them, despite the symptoms seemingly originating there. I then found a local exotic animal vet, discovering numerous discrepancies with Petco’s information. Firstly, the male ferret, Bilbo, was actually female, renamed Luna, and the paperwork provided was incorrect. It appears they also have ECE, are likely from different litters, and may have arrived at different times, possibly without quarantine. They are currently on medication for ECE, and the coughing has decreased to 0-10 times a day per ferret, with a follow-up planned in about ten days to assess if the coughing remains an issue.

So there's my Petco story. I'm holding out for these two heroes, fingers crossed they'll get better. (Mainly worried about the cough, as ECE is being treated). Insurance kicks in on the 27th. I'm going to be way more observant and questioning at Petco in the future.