Message Number: SG5081 | New FHL Archives Search
From: Ferret Wise Shelter
Date: 2003-06-19 16:41:49 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] ferrets rear end collapsed
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-Id: <5.1.1.6.2.20030619123732.01f9b680@mail.usaexpress.net>

you wrote:
> They gave him a cortizone shot and some pain medicine I have been
giving him for the last four >days. Every day he has gotten a little
better. He can walk now but still colapses and is very >weak. He eats and
drinks all the time and still wants to try and play. He has lost quite a
bit of >weight in the past 2 months but showed no other signs of
problems. What could possibly be >wrong with him?? I don't have the money
to take him to the vet again after all the emergency >
room bills. Any ideas? Could it be lymphomia?

This sounds like it could be either of several things- we have seen these
same symptoms at the shelter with a spinal compression injury- and they may
be difficult to read on x-ray
and we have seen the same symptoms in a 2.5 year old healthy male when a
cardiac condition caused a blood clot to settle on the spine.

In either case it is PARAMOUNT the problem causing this be identified so
the correct course of treatment can be followed. What you administer for a
compression injury ( steroids) may kill a cardiac patient! In EITHER CASE-
keeping the ferret as quiet as possible for 10 days following the onset of
injury is key to allowing damaged tissues to heal-- and will aggravate a
potential blood clot form passing further!

PLease, you need to consult your regular ferret knowledgeable vet!

Alicia D
www.ferretwise.org