From:
"Lin Adkins"
Date: 2002-07-29 14:51:19 UTC
Subject: Re: protein electrophoresis
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Message-ID: <007801c2370f$6744e280$155f8693@creighton.edu>
>Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 14:02:22 -0400 (EDT)
>To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
>From: Pam Sessoms <pjdutche@email.unc.edu>
>Subject: protein electrophoresis
>Message-ID: <Pine.A41.4.21L1.0207171359240.55182-100000@login7.isis.unc.ed=
u>
.=
>She is getting around a lot better but continues to have some trouble
>walking, especially when she first gets moving. Her back legs hyperextend
>to totally straight and her hocks lock up. Her back stays arched; she
>does not flatten out like many ferrets who are weak in the back end.
I too have a little guy (J.J.) who displays this behavior. While he's playf=
ul and active, he always moves rather stiff-legged and these "stiff legged/=
arching" episodes are (to my knowledge) infrequent. When he stops walking/r=
unning he will twitch and sometimes lurch stiffly back and forth (like a ch=
ameleon walking on a branch) then go on about his business. =
I usually notice his hind legs stiffening and back arching when he's eating=
his baby food w/prednisone in the morning. (Once he stiffened up while I w=
as holding him.) He will stiffen up into a horseshoe shape (back legs compl=
ete hyperextended and rigid) and stay that way for about 5-10 seconds then =
start to relax. What's odd is that he seems to pay no attention to the stif=
fening/arching - he will keep eating like nothing's going on then totter of=
f to play or go to sleep. One morning he fell right over headfirst into his=
dish, righted himself and kept on eating.
When he first came to live with me (about nine months ago) J.J. was exhibit=
ing signs of adrenal disease and frequent twitching all over his body. Soon=
he started having seizures (several times a week) during which he would fa=
ll over on his side for a few seconds then completely recover in about 15-3=
0 seconds. During the last seizure I witnessed he fell over and his whole b=
ody became completely rigid -he recovered slowly over about 5 minutes. His =
vet put him on .1 cc of prednisone suspecting an insulinoma.
When he had his adrenal surgery about four months ago J.J.'s vet. said his =
pancreas looked fine. We still have not ruled out insulinoma - perhaps just=
nothing visible yet. =
Currently he is on .3 cc's of prednisone 2x/day - being raised from the .1 =
dose as the twitching gets more frequent. =
I have J.J. scheduled for a complete blood work-up next weekend and was won=
dering if anyone had any idea of what we may look for - what other test we =
might do. =
Lin & the Fabulous Five (Spaceman Spiff, Dusty, Cyndel, Alex, and J.J.)