From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2007-08-26 16:04:01 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Right Side Ataxia in Seven Year Old Female Ferret
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
When your vet is checking out all the possibilities from ear infections, to kidney disease, to
heart disease causing a thrown clot, DO remember that not all ferrets who throw clots
(thromboses) due an underlying disease do so again.
Our Spot threw one clot with his kidney disease. Actually, it was his first sign of having
kidney disease and was a strange one to have to as that. He threw one to his brain that
left him comatose, For three days and nights we took him back and forth between our
local vet for the day and the emergency vet for the night. Each night he had some
specialized tests run that could not be done at our regular vet's. Then one morning when
we went to pick to him up he had awakened! The vet wasn't too used to ferrets so when
he began extreme happiness trembles on being handed to us we had to reassure her that
they were not a new neurological symptom. He never did throw a clot again and had some
more good months in him. Although Spotty was left with some damage to control of a
foot and leg he adjusted well and they soon did not have much impact on him.
Notice in the recent posts of Doctors Williams and Murray that there are approaches for
treating cardiomyopathy, and notice in the FHL Archives that kidney disease is also among
problems for which some things can now be done.
Not all ferrets who throw clots have things turn out as badly as they did for Meltdown, and
for her that was the case because after an unusually extended time with cardiomyopathy
and ventricular bigemini (for which Digoxin was her wonder med) her heart was too gone
to allow the kidney that was destroyed by a clot be removed and then the day after she
also threw another to her brain. If she had not had the kidney destroyed we'd have tried
to get her past the brain clot, of course, as we did with Spot.
So your vet should check the ears well, and should check for causes of thrown clots, as
well as other possibilities that could be causing the circling behavior.
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
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