*****Remember with thrombosis that there will be an UNDERLYING CAUSE.
Usually it is heart disease (commonly either cardiomyopathy or A/V node
block), but it can be kidney disease, lymphoma, or some other things.
The underlying cause need treatment.*****

Additional things that some people have assumed were stroke but were
not include but are not limited to: ADV (Aleutian Disease Virus),
Canine Distemper, serious inner ear infection, meningitis, insulinoma,
back injury, upper spinal chordoma, and more...

You can find quite a bit in the FML and FHL archives including
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG11338
which includes this from Dr. Bruce Williams, one of the world's
renowned experts on ferret pathology and on telemedicine:
>Regarding the theory of stroke - this is really not a problem
>in ferrets - stroke is most often seen in species with chronic
>cardiovascular disease such as atherosclerosis, such as humans
>and certain inbred species of animals, but not ferrets.

http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG11396
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG4576
in
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG3833
Dr. Williams also says:
>To my knowledge, strokes have never been diagnosed in ferrets - nor
>have I ever seen evidence of intracranial hemorrhages in ferrets.

"Stroke" is one of those words some people use too loosely in relation
to ferrets, like "colds", with the results being health care problems
in both cases.

We HAVE had two ferrets with thromboses in our 28+ years with ferrets
(not sure how many any longer). One had a mercy shot the same day that
she threw one to her brain (her third thrown clot) but not because of
that clot but instead because of a thrombosis (thrown clot) in her
kidney from the day before which refused to dissolve so she had no
chance. She had heart disease. The other had only one thrombosis and
his was due to kidney disease. It was a whooper. He was comatose and we
had to take him back and forth between the vet hospital for day and the
emergency vet hospital of nights. He DID come around after a few days
and eventually wound up with just a little neurological damage for one
foot so even learned to run with that.

Oh, and if both rear legs are having trouble with a thrombosis that is
going to be a saddle thrombosis, but if only one leg has problems then
massage can actually sometimes help a bit -- a lot of massage.

Time for the vet so that what is actually going on can be figured out.

Outdoor walks:
also read up on soil borne diseases in the FML and FHL archives. The
chances of those are probably low but you need to know about them in
case they happen to jump fast enough because some are downright nasty.

It is good to be addressing some things with better outcomes that shiga
toxin producing E. coli is likely to have. Sad when thromboses are a
break isn't it?

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/
http://www.ferrethealth.msu.edu/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
all ferret topics:
http://listserv.ferretmailinglist.org/archives/ferret-search.html
"All hail the procrastinators for they shall rule the world tomorrow."
(2010, Steve Crandall)

[Posted in FML 6786]