Message Number: YG11655 | New FHL Archives Search
From: shen10
Date: 2002-03-05 19:39:00 UTC
Subject: Chloe's wobbly back end

Dear FHL friends,

I am writing to ask for advice about Chloe. She is about 6
years old and her back legs have become wobbly and unreliable
in the past week.

A few weeks ago, my 3 ferrets contracted an illness very
similar to ECE (vomiting at onset, malaise, depressed
appetites, odor and consistency of poops) after playing with
other (apparently healthy) ferrets. (They had ECE a little
over a year ago.) This time they recovered relatively quickly
- within a 1-2 weeks all were eating again and the poops had
improved (tho still a little yucky), and the other 2 were both
feeling more playful.

As Chloe began to get around more, we noticed that sometimes
one of her back legs didn't work right, but we thought she was
just a little weak still. This was about a week ago. But
instead of getting better, the problem became worse, until her
back end flopped to either side whenever she tried to walk
more than a few steps. She began to just stay in bed - or to
get up to eat or poop or say hi, but go right back to bed.
(The ferrets are free roam in a room, and for some time each
day in several rooms).

Took her to the vet yesterday. He dragged her 2 back feet
over the edge of the table, and where he said a healthy ferret
would flip them to rightside up, she left them dragging behind
her. He said the back legs were strong but that she didn't
seem aware of where her feet were. An xray didn't show
anything. He gave her a cortisone shot and over the next day
her wobbliness decreased. He is thinking either an injury or
a tumor. (But if an injury, would it have progressed as it
did?) He suggested we segregate her from her rowdier siblings
so she'd have a chance to recover, so she is in a cage in
their room. He feels we'll know more as the cortisone wears
of, and she either continues to improve or gets worse again.
If she gets worse again, he says the next step would be an MRI
to look for a tumor...

Any other advice?

I really appreciate your help.