To Ron Hetrick:
 
>Just 2 days ago my wife said she put our one boy down and his right front
>leg went out of socket (it pointed forward) she immediately picked him up
>and popped it back into place (yuuucchhh).
 
    Ron - We rarely see this problem in ferrets, but we can occasionally see
joints that come out of place.  Recently Dr.  Weiss operated on a ferret
with a luxating patella - where the kneecap moves over out of the normal
place along the center of the leg, and the leg locks in place.  It would
seem that your ferret has a luxating shoulder.  This may be due to a shallow
joint.  The shoulder joint has very little bone in it - the joint is
primarily held in place by tendons and ligaments rather than a bony socket.
If the ligaments are lax, you may have a joint that occaisonally pops out.
 
    Surgery can be considered if this happens on a regular basis, but I
wouldn't rush into it.
 
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP
[Posted in FML issue 1287]