From:
"Kerry"
Date: 2009-01-22 18:06:51 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] 18 mo old with possible neck injury - help needed
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hi everyone,
I have an almost 18 month old jill named Siouxsie. She lives with
her two daughters and another jill (all under the age of 1) and were
playing Sunday in an extra large Martin's pen with the lid. So the
sides are only 24 inches high.
When I went to change run groups on Sunday night, I found Siouxsie in
a hunched position on the floor of the pen. When I picked her up she
felt "weird". By weird I mean she seemed very stiff and
listless/lethargic. I put her in the big pen to let the girls play
with other group and she just stayed in whatever position I put her
in. I thought, "that's not right" and picked her back up. Gave her
a once over and she seemed fine (i.e. not dehydrated, pink gums), but
her feet felt cold. Could be the basement floor. And, this is gonna
sound gross, but she almost felt like she was in rigor as she was
very stiff. I put her the cage alone to monitor her and she had a
normal poop (it was clear she had eaten her mouse that day) and she
ate the chicken juice and some of the chicken from the gravy I left
her. The best way I can describe her stance when you set her down is
hunched. She doesn't lay down and she doesn't stand up properly. I
took her to the vet on Monday night and after xrays, he thinks she
has suffered some kind of neck injury. The two vertebrea by her
shoulders look to be closer together than the rest of them. He
thinks its either a pinched nerve or perhaps a bulging disc. She was
given a shot of dex and a muscle relaxant and sent home with
instructions to give 0.1 cc pred 2X a day. They did not do any
bloodwork as she was so stiff and my vet was concerned that it would
be difficult to collect from her. I've been giving her massages and
my own version of physical therapy to keep her muscle from atropy and
I discovered that she has NO feeling in her front legs and will pull
back on her back legs when her pads are pinched. When she is laying
on her back, the bones in between her front legs seem to jet forward
almost like there is a dislocation or break. Neither of which showed
up on the xray. Since Tuesday her front legs just lay beside her
body like a seal. She was able to get to the litter pan Sunday and
Monday, but has not been able to move at all since then. She now is
deficating wherever she is laying. She has been in a small single
layer cage upstairs so she doesn't get cold. On Wednesday we began
her on 0.2 cc of injectible dex and baytril 2X a day. We have
another appointment for a recheck tonight and I will be pushing to
get blood and see if there is any sign of infection or cancer. Also
I found a holistic vet that does acupuncture that we are going to see
on Saturday.
She's getting hand fed and sub-q fluids as she can't lift her head.
She can turn it side to side, but can't lift it at all.
What I'm wondering is if anyone has experience with a ferret that
loss the use of their front legs. All the stories I've been
gathering have to do with hind end that may or may not have spread to
the front, but the front have never been as bad as the back. Does
this sound more like a tumor since it's so localized? I was thinking
spider bite, but haven't seen any evidence of such. Not surprising
since she has such a fantastic winter coat right now. Any other
thoughts or suggests would be most appreciated.
Thanks for your time,
Kerry
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