Help! I need advice on how to help my ferret.  Any help would be extremely
appreciated!
 
My ferret, Merlin, is really sick.  I'm hoping maybe somewhere out there,
someone can give a suggestion or two.
 
Here is the story:  About three months ago, Merlin started sneezing a lot.
It wasn't like every minute, but it was much more than normal. We figured he
just had a little cold.
 
A couple weeks later, Merlin started to have some minor paralysis in his hind
quarters. It started getting worse, and the sneezing went down.
 
We took Merlin to the vet.  The vet said Merlin might have lymphomia, a
cancer, but couldn't find any tumors on his spinal cord. They took a blood
test, but that came up negative.  To see if he had a fracture of some sort,
they took x-rays. Again, nothing. The vet gave him liquid prednisone, which
is supposed to help relieve the pain.
 
Despite daily prednisone doses, Merlin's condition kept getting worse.  About
a month ago, Merlin started licking himself down by the hind quarters. It was
like he had a really bad itch, and he licked so much he lost his hair there
and actually developed sores.  All of those have healed by themselves, and
hair is starting to grow back.
 
Now, he drags his back legs behind him, pulling himself with only his front
legs.  It's so bad that he doesn't move unless he has to. He's not in pain,
it's just hard to move with only his front legs.  This has made it so he
won't go down to the bottom of his cage where the food is from the loft where
he sleeps.  He refuses to sleep at the bottom of the cage.  He will go down
to the middle floor of his cage (3 floors, including the loft), and drink
water.
 
He also has suddenly gotten a huge amount of energy (when he's awake), more
than the other ferrets we have. The others respect Merlin, because he beat
them up when they first met, and offer to play from time to time, but Merlin
doesn't accept very often. When he does, they have to be withing striking
distance, or he won't bother to chase them.
 
He still has intelligence. He makes an effort to go to the litter box and he
recognizes everyone, his prednisone bottle, the food bag, and any place that
might be a comfortable sleeping place when he's "patrolling" on the floor.
 
He really doesn't like it in his cage, either.  Everytime the door is open,
he tries to get out.  However, when he gets down, he wants to find a comfy
place to go to sleep.
 
We have tried giving him all kinds of treats, but the only things he likes
are kitty food, Ferretone, and prednisone.  The vet recommended chemotherapy
pills, too.  He's getting thin, so we'd like ideas for treats.
 
ANY advice would be appreciated!  The vet said he was going to die a month
ago, and we don't think he has long to live.  Merlin really needs some help,
and we're hoping to find some here, or maybe a reference to a place that
could help.
 
Thank you in advance,
 
Drew, Merlin, and the rest of the family.
[Posted in FML issue 1282]