From:
sukieferret
Date: 2002-02-14 23:45:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Ref's hind end paralysis
When elderly Meeteetse had problems that turned out to not be
from insulinoma or otherwise easily found things the final
decision was that she likely had lymphoma affecting her spinal
cord, but we had x-rays that indicated a lumbar problem and
we'd tried a pile of other testing first. In her case she began with
loss of bladder control and went from there.
You may or may not be dealing with something similar.
She finally wound up on Prednisone and finally also on opiates.
The opiates did not impair her functioning at all; they gave her
more quality of life by kepping her pain in manageable levels.
You can find out about wheelchairs for ferrets from
http://www.doggon.com .
That is from memory so if I got it wrong look in the Files section
at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list
to find the corrected version.
You can also make her a pantyhose sling. These were first
devised by the folks at Doggon years ago, but I modified it a bit
for ferret ease-of-use and back comfort for people. Take a pair of
stretchy pantyhose selected for your height (to avoid hurting your
back). If there are multiple people of differing heights in the
family chose a different color of hose for each. Place one
pantyhose foot atop the other and sew them together into a nice
wide and flat hammock for under the ferret's belly . Then roll the
top of the pantyhose (including the panty part) and sew that to
form a handle. There you have it. Put the hammock part under
the ferret's belly, provide a bit of lift to help the ferret walk around,
and off you go. Ferrets with reduced use of the hind legs love it.
There was nothing we could do about Meeteetse's bladder and
later nothing we could about her bowels, either, but she had a
good 6 months or so, anyway, with meds and mobility aids.
[BTW, Meeteetse was a famous ferret -- was on "All Things
Considered" maybe 5 times due to her enduring and exalting
love of Richard Harris' voice, and when she passed away they
gave her a national obit. I still cry happy tears over their kindness
in doing that.]
--- In Ferret-Health-list@y..., "finneous" <ferret@i...> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> My Reffy has total paralysis on his hind end. I have had blood
work
> done and the my vet doesn't really know what it is. He said
Maybe a
> tumor or cyst on or by his spine.....
>
> He has lost urine and bowel fuction. Can any one give me any
> suggestions about his bowels? He has really loose bowels
and I'm not
> sure what to do to help that. If there is anything?