From:
moreferrets@home.com
Date: 2001-04-11 17:44:00 UTC
Subject: Re: adds: kits with hind leg weakness
> He is not incontinent, in fact he has essentially been litter
> box trained since the first few days at a rate of about 95%
accuracy.
> One note is that he does not back into the corner as I had seen
with
> my previous ferrets. He gets in the box and just does it.
> As for walking him, I've tried to keep him on rough or rugged
> surfaces and he basically walks with a lil wobble till he wants to
> scurry off, then he just drags himself. And believe me he is
quick.
> I also note that at times he will begin "walking " by dragging
> himself and if I pick up his hind legs as positon him he uses them
> till again he tries to run or he is frightened. I have a dryer
tube
> and he runs thru it like greased lightening. Its a perplexing case.
> Emily
when i read this additional information i immediately thought of my
bridgette. she arrived "injured" and has had varying troubles ever
since. sometimes her legs work, sometimes they just paddle along as
she scoots. she climbs whatever she can and leaps off like
superferret (gee...wonder how she was injured). if she has pain she
doesn't care or "plays through it." she's incontinent and doesn't
seem to get signal when she's going. her trouble? ruptured disk in
her back at the exact location in the lumbar area that corresponds
with the nerves that would be involved with bladder and bowel (both
function fine - she just doesn't get the message). her injury was
easily seen on an x-ray, taken over one year ago now. recently her
entire lumbar region seems thick and immobile; certainly could be
other disks going or arthritis setting in. frankly, i havent' run
other x-rays since she's such a happy little terror who just doesn't
seem to care that she technically has some troubles. she is FAST AS
LIGHTENING and will bounce as any ferret would; only difference is
that only her front end leaves the ground. when she does get her
legs up under her the knees turn in and thus so do the feet. i can
find no correlation between using her legs and feeling happy or
sad...she always seems to be happy and feel good, just some days the
legs work, most days they don't. perhaps this critter has a spinal
injury in a different location than bridgette does? i will say that
her problem seemed to benefit her when she had adrenal
surgery...never have seen a critter bounce around the night OF
surgery...high pain tolerance or perhaps some more nerves that don't
work right? :) i did learn that a disk injury can include swelling
and the swelling can interfere with nerve function. the good news
there is that the swelling might decrease with time. for bridgette
over one year hasn't shown any improvement, but she's yet another
example that "troubles" ferrets are fun too! :)