From:
"Joan"
Date: 2007-12-12 15:29:08 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: fractured femur
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Heather,
Suggest to your Vet to put a soft wrapping on the bad leg.
I suugest soft wrapping so he can get the optimum range of maotion
and circulation to the area of the break.
Bit of a Long story her:
************************
My Otter recenty broke his foreleg; tibia & fibula. thankfully, a
clean break.
He was "casted" with none other than a syringe case(very clever!)
and basically immobolized. Each week he went for rechecks and there
was little sign of any healing. It had knit some, but wasn't wholly right.
After 5 weeks, numerous calls to orthopaedic small anmimal
practitioners, and cost breakdown; ferret medicine ain't cheap,
we opted to let it heal on it's own.
While this may sound rather rash, I agreed having heard of cats and
dogs that had healed without intervention.
When the wraping came off, that leg bowed a bit, but he put it down on
his own and hobbled about.
Long story to short, as Otter got more use out of the leg- activity,
the better it healed.
When we got home I still put an abbreviated wrap on it for another 9
days, one that gave full range of motion as I didn't trust Otter not
to dance it broken again.
He had a small limp for 2 weeks or so and is now fit as can be.
Of coursae there is the option of amputation - if all else fails.
Ferrets can get around fine on "3 wheels".
It's understandable to want to do all you can to save the leg first.
In ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com, "Heather" <standingoak@...> wrote:
>
> Hi
> My little Athos has got himself into a bit of a fix. He has
fractured his femur. My vet is not very ferret knowledgeable and is
presently discussing with a few collegues some possible solutions to
this problem. It has been xrayed and appears to be a clean break but
(I hope I describe this properly) the bones themselves have pulled
apart or have separated. This may be too difficult to come up with
some possible solutions without seeing an xray but I'm hoping that we
can pick your brains about this. She was thinking of pins and wires
to pull the bone together. She's of course using cats and dogs as
reference here and is hoping for some input that might be ferret
specific in this situation. He's presently on Metacam 1.5 mg -- 2
drops daily for pain. Athos has no use of the leg (it basically
drags). He's confined to a single level cage on his own (enforced bed
rest). He's eating and drinking well(and getting bored, he
methodically took all his blankies and stuffed them in his water bowl)
> Thank you for your input.
> ciao
> Heather and the furkids
> In loving memory of Pandora, Mischief and Mayhem
> Shakespeare and Mushu
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
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