From:
"Church, Robert Ray (UMC-Student)"
Date: 2002-08-09 14:10:49 UTC
Subject: RE: Subject: ferret ACL/knee Surgery
To: <ferrethealth@smartgroups.com>
Cc: "Church, Robert Ray (UMC-Student)" <rrc961@mizzou.edu>
Message-ID: <43C5FBB91EB9CC468627C2BCB23391D32B9CE9@TIG-MAIL2.tig.mizzou.edu>
I am NOT double guessing your vet, but think I should point out ferret join=
ts are extremely supple. Ferrets are domesticated polecats, who evolved hu=
nting animals in burrows and burys, requiring great physical flexibility. =
Ferrets can crawl through any hole their head can enter (ok, maybe not thos=
e overly obese or suffering ascites), and turn around in a tube hardly larg=
er than their body. To do this, they have to have fairly lax joints. This=
is great for a young hunting animal, but for a pet ferret, especially in l=
ater life, it may (unproven) contribute to various locomotor problems, poss=
ibly including hindlimb weakness, that strange sideways shuffle some older =
ferrets develop, and joint stiffness and pain as the muscle insertion and o=
rigin points continue to ossify, reducing mobility.
You can test this joint laxness yourself with any ferret that you know has =
good joints. Holding the femur (upper leg) in position with one hand, plac=
e your thump over the knee joint and gently rock the tibia (lower leg). Re=
peat this on your dog or cat, and you will notice the ferret's knee joint h=
as a great deal of flexibility in comparison. The ferret's backbone, hips,=
and shoulders are even more flexible, and it is not unheard of for a vet w=
ith little ferret experience to misinterpret normal joint laxness as a path=
ologic condition.
As for the repair, that would impress the hell out of me. The space betwee=
n the femur and tibia in a ferret is about the thickness of a dime, or less=
; can you imagine how long those ligaments are? Talk about microsurgery! =
There are a lot of vets with the skills to do such fine surgery, some on th=
is list. But, I think I would question the necessity if the ferret was abl=
e to move around, especially if they were not in pain. If the other ligamen=
ts were intact, the joint was stable, and the ferret wasn't suffering, I wo=
uld worry surgery might cause more complications than it might solve. But,=
I am not a vet, nor do I pretend to be one, so I suggest you get a couple =
of second-opinions from other vets and make your decison based on those.
Wishing you the best of luck,
Bob