From:
"Bruce Williams, DVM"
Date: 2007-07-24 01:09:24 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Ferret with osteomyelitis. please help!
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, "lumazzanti" <lumazzanti@...>
wrote:
> I have 3 questions:
> 1: Do you think he=B4ll cure from the Osteomyelitis? The vet says his
> bacteria are like Terminator. I hope the antibiotics work this time.
>
> 2: Will he ever walk "normally" again with only 3 legs? So far he
> pushes with his front legs and drags the back one. The front legs
are
> all sore and the vet says they hurt. Maybe when he recovers, he=B4ll
> start using them better? I heard we can do swimming theraphy?
>
> 3: His stomach is very upset...I think it=B4s because of the
> antibiotics. When he was in the streets maybe he ate anything he
> found... then in the Hospital they gave him A/D cans but it gave his
> diahrrea.
Regarding osteomyelitis - bone infections are the absolute worst to
try to clear up, as the vascularity is relatively poor, especially in
infected bone. Antibiotic therapy can literally taek months and
STILL not be effective. The key here is - did your veterinarian
culture the bacteria from the bone and find out what type of
antibiotics they are sensitive to (called a culture and
sensitivity). Often in such cases, you may be dealing with multiple
types of bacteria (which may be sensitive to different antibiotics),
or you may be trying to use an antibiotic that the bacteria is
resistant to. You have to do a culture and sensitivity in such cases.
2. No one can say whether he will recover the use of that back leg -
without seeing an X-ray, and before the infection is healed, it is
impossible to tell. Currently, he has probably lost a tremendous
amount of muscle mass, so even if he could stand on it, he wouldn't
really have the muscle to hop around.
3. Regarding the diarrhea - it is probably a combination of stress,
rapid food change, and possibly pre-existing GI disease. My personal
choices for this case would be Oxbow Carnivore Care, or even baby
food until we get his stomach back on an even keel.
With kindest regards,
Bruce Williams, DVM
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