From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2007-09-03 02:54:08 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Question on blood test
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
--- In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, "greensky042" <greensky042@...> wrote:
>
> Thank you Sukie. Koda was discovered to have insulinoma when he was
> in the hospital, and is on 1/2cc of prednislone twice a day. I was
> wondering if during this whole tramatic time, Koda could have had a
> stroke and we weren't aware of it and that's why he can't really use
> his legs.
Well, according to past posts from Dr. Bruce Williams there have
been no documented cases of actual strokes in ferrets. Since they
don't tend to have vascular deposits I guess that is to be expected.
What they DO have at times are thromboses which are thrown clots.
Those tend to be caused by heart disease, kidney disease,
lymphoma and some some other less common things,
Thromboses can land anywhere. When the rear legs are both
affected there is a location where a major blood vessel splits to
serve both legs and when the clot lands there it perches like a
saddle, so is called a "saddle thrombosis". They can wind up
in limbs and in organs, including the brain, too.
We have twice had ferrets have then go to the brain. Spot
survived and over time wound up with very little permanent
damage, and that was just to one leg, despite him having
been comatose for days. Meltdown on the the hand, threw
her third thrombosis to her brain on the day after she had
thrown one to her kidney. her kidney could not be salvaged
and her heart disease was so extremely advanced that there
was no choice but a mercy shot. If her kidney had not been
destroyed we would have tried rehab as we did with Spot.
We have also twice had ferrets with lymphoma that went to
the spinal cord, but neither of those had control over waste.
It sounds like given the opportunity your little one can control
when urine and feces come out.
> I am borrowing a friends ferret flyer, but Koda can't use the upper
> half of his body to pull himself along, he just hangs in the flyer
> (he can't use his back end either).
Hopefully, given time he will be able to.
>He freaks out when I put him in
> water, except for when I have to clean his bottom, which is a couple
> times a day.
Actually, it might be good for Koda if you put his limbs through
some gentle range of motion exercises while supporting him in
water, and walking in water is a way to regain strength because
of the buoyancy. You don't want his tendons to begin to shrink
or his muscles to atrophy so the ROM exercises really make sense.
Is there a way you can rig up a sling so he feels supported, or
can you be in the tub with him, or can someone else help so that
he feels safe but his limbs are being moved?
He does have feeling because I try to tickle him to get
> a response and he jerks.
That is good.
> If I scratch his neck, his hind leg will
> try to scratch his neck, but it doesn't make contact. It's as if his
> brain isn't sending any messages to his legs telling him to stand.
Well, since he tries I think there are messages but the response
isn't sufficient.
Illustration: I've twice had neurological diseases, about a quarter
of a century apart from each other. The first time affecting my
upper limbs and the second time my lower ones. Things didn't
come back fully but they came back enough. For my feet, though,
I still have a slightly poor sense of where they are (though that has
been improving) and I have muddled sensations in a few ways still.
My brain is fine. Okay, I can act warped (LOL!) but there is no
damage in my brain as per MRI. Neurological damage is often
someplace downstream. It took me 18 months with braces and 8
months of PT (physical therapy) to walks again decently. When my
upper limbs were involved it took 3 years to bounce back decently.
Yet, all those repairs *DID* happen. Being stubborn came in useful.
My point being that neurological problems often are not in the brain.
They can be in the spinal cord, or there can be peripheral nerve
damage. Some of those things repair, just as some brain damage
can repair as it did with Spot. To me your description sounds like
the problem might perhaps not be in the brain, but that is just a
guess from having been there.
>
> I just want to see him dance again like he used to, but if he can't,
> then we'll just work with what he can do.
Spot never could dance or really run again after his thrombosis to
his brain, BUT he still could drag his favorite toy ferret which was
bigger than he was, all through the house to put it wherever he
felt was right, and he still could unplug ethernet and phone cables
in just seconds (and then laugh at us), so he did just fine. I hope
that your little Koda will do as well.
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