From:
Marie Schatz
Date: 2002-10-21 20:08:00 UTC
Subject: limp
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-Id: <27186448.1035261999579.JavaMail.nobody@vanadium>
My 7 yr old sprite has been limping on her right rear leg for a couple
of days soI had her examined and x-rayed today. The Dr.'s not sure
what's wrong.
One ankle looks slightly different than the other but he doesn't have
any books with radiographs showing which would be
(ab)normal. Also despite wrapping her ankles with tape so the techs
could hang on she kept moving for the x-ray so he's not sure if the
difference between the look of the two ankles is just
positioning.
He said its possible one ankle is subluxated(sp), i.e. where the ankle
and foot bones meet they have shifted slightly. I'm not sure I'm
explaining this well but sort of
like earth crust plates that slip horizontally? That's what it looked
like to me on the x-ray, like the limpiming anlke whas slightly out of line.
Anyway not sure if that's even it.
She does seem to be swinging that leg out a bit and
she doesn't bend her ankle. He said she didn't scream when he
"cranked on it". (Geez)
Giesela has always been a very tough pragmatic ferret though (her
idea of he good life would have been hunting in the UK).
She is also keeping her foot sort of almost curled together longways and
slightly slanted.
In absense of any other alternatives except predisone which can disrupt
healing I brought up aspirin. He looked up the dose in the pink book
which was a SHOCKING 200mg/kg tce a day - a kg being a 2.2. lb ferret.
That can't be right. I checked the archives and saw recommendations
more along the lines of 10-20 mg's.
I would appreciate it if someone could tell me that's correct?
Also if anyone has any suggestions regarding her leg/ankle.
UPDATE: My orginal post didn't make it a 1.5 weeks ago and then i
fried my motherboard. She is still limping though maybe not quite as
much?,
however I would think that whatever the problem is it still exists. i only
did a tiny bit of aspirin 2 or 3 times and quit as I didn't notice any
particular change.
My only thought is a chiropracter but the likelihood of finding one
within reasonable driving distance that could do a ferret seems pretty
darn slim.
Mary
P.S. She has insulomina, currently controlled by diet pretty well.
"For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts;
even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other;
yea they have all one breath;
so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast:
for all is vanity. "
Ecclesiastes 3:19