From:
<grape_apes@charter.net>
Date: 2007-08-07 22:30:53 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] RE: torn Anterior cruciate ligament
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hi. I am hopelessly behind on digests and emails, with my new human baby in the mix now ;), so someone has probably already addressed this, but I have had a ferret with a torn ACL. Ironically, I am a vet tech for a surgeon who does a TON of orthopedics, mostly in dogs...
In the case of a ferret, it's not necessarily worth doing anything surgically to it, or necessary to, depending on the level of pain and dysfunction they are having. With my Bandit, he was limping (which is how I noticed), but it didn't seem to slow him down much. With time, the scar tissue around the joint restabilized the joint and he was able to use the leg again without problems. Because ferrets are so small, you may be able to do this with them, versus letting it "go" with a larger cat or dog being permanently detrimental and painful to the animal....
We also gave him some pain relief (though it really didn't seem to bother him much!). Another option we considered for if the scar tissue didn't seem to be building up to stabilize things was splinting for awhile. (We did joke about doing a cruciate repair, but it wasn't necessary in his case.)
If this little ferret is refusing to walk, he may be painful, so some meds for pain and inflammation may be in order in addition to possible splinting. However, keeping a splint on a ferret can sometimes be impossible, as a friend of mine discovered personally recently.... Physical therapy and water therapy can be helpful, too, once the joint has been rested a bit.
Best,
April (vet tech and ferret owner)
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