Kept meaning to write to you but didn't get a chance; you might have a
money maker there!
 
Whenever Steve has nightmares nothing brings him into good dreams as fast
as ferret smell.  Don't reduce the smell; find someone like Steve who
would like the stand next to his or her bed and sell it as scent-enhanced
furniture!  (I have been looking over our room to try to figure if we have
any space to put one in ourselves and let the guys use it since reading
your post.  They do sleep under our platform bedding in bedding there but
what you have may work better.)
 
(I LOVE their sleep smells -- so bakery with some of them -- muffins or
corn fritters...)
 
Of course, after decades have mounted up -- with allergies on top -- we
aren't as odor-aware as we used to be.
 
>All I know is that he or she is around five years old and was suffering
>from "hind-end paralysis".
 
Hind end weakness is a general symptom of any condition that can cause
weakness.  Many of the causes are treatable.  Insulinoma is a common cause
and for that surgery is curative for something like 60% of the cases.  A
systemic infection is often treatable.  Lympho in rare cases can be put
into remission or goes into it spontaneously but it often means getting or
making mobility chairs and pantyhose slings.  (The first pantyhose slings
were devised by Doggon which also makes mobility chairs and in past posts
of mine you'll find changes i made with their blessings which make these
even more user friendly.)
 
Injuries sometimes cause such damage and there are a number of success
stories on treating those in the Ferret Health List
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-List .
 
Many things which people think are neurological in ferrets are not.
Also, there is often confusion about "strokes" which tend to turn out to
actually be thromboses (thrown clots) from undiscovered disease such as
cardiomyopathy or kidney disease.
 
Obviously, 5 years is only late middle age so this is a very sad thing to
read, whether the ferret had a terminal illness or whether the clients
jumped the gun.  With some differences in how the years portion out most
years for a ferret are about like a decade for a human.
 
Longevity question: most of our's here live to late in the 7th year into
the middle 8th year.  That number has gone up as we learned more over the
2 decades we've had the guys.  Part of that is that we know when and how
to jump when needed, but I think that most of it is form the improvements
in ferret medical care that vets can now provide.  It just makes sense;
that is what has happened with humans as our medical care as improved,
too.
 
>MystyGurl came home tonight!  Blood tests and X-rays showed she was
>suffering from an advanced ear infection coupled with possible
>neurological damage caused by ear mites.  Even though we treat her once
>a month with mite medication.
 
Ears are best cleaned (when mites aren't present) about twice a month --
more or less depending on the individual.
 
When mites are present heavy duty prescription meds have to be used very
frequently; your vet will set a timetable, and they definitely should not
be stopped till vet says to stop them.  That is because intermittent use
or use that isn't frequent enough can breed super-critters just as happens
with bacteria.
 
If your ferret has a secondary fungal infection that will also need to be
treated for with prescription meds and they can be very hard to cure so
follow-up exams are to be expected in that case.  Those apparently can
even eat through the auditory bullae.  I have read of one with a brain
infection (died) from that many years ago.
 
Be sure to also include extra cleaning of any bedding and areas in which
they sleep, and more baths than usual (Use a safe conditioner as a result
to minimize skin dryness.) to help fight this.
 
It sounds like you may mean that there is some inner ear damage.  Many
can compensate over time if the infection is halted.
[Posted in FML issue 3787]