Hi,
 
I am fowarding a post from a friend a friend.  Could all responses plese be
sent to [log in to unmask]
   -------------
They have caught something that my vet can not identify and we already have
had two fatalities.  The symptoms are hind end weakness (very weak, they can
barely walk on the linoleum in the kitchen), followed by diarrhea, nausea,
and refusal to eat.  Of the two fatalities, the first was a shock...he had
barely been sick at all.  The second became completely paralyzed in her hind
end and died two days later.  Two others seemed to survive the worst and are
now eating wet food on their own but they are still extremely weak.  And two
others seem to be just starting the cycle and are showing signs of weakness
in the hind end.
 
My vet has treated them with Albon and steroids but I am going to call today
and see about trying amoxycillan.
 
I'm almost positive that this must be a bacteria or virus, though I keep
going over every inch of my house that my ferrets have access to trying to
find anything they might have gotten into.  This is so frustrating.
 
When they get to the "don't want to eat" stage we force feed.  OH, and also
on the one who became paralyzed in her back end: her back legs pointed
straight back and didn't bend at all at the knees or ankles, though they
could bend because we checked (which didn't seem to cause her any pain and
we were VERY careful) .
 
Of all the different illness that we have come across owning ferrets, this
has been the most deadly and the most odd.  It all starts with weakness and
unsteadiness in the back legs.
 
If you have any idea what this is or if you could just help us to find a
more effective treatment please let me know.  I should have thought of you
sooner.
 
Joy Armstrong
 
P.S.
the only new things I have in my house are a galvanized metal water dish we
bought about 3 wks ago, and we put the dogs on Advantage (for fleas) about 2
months ago.
[Posted in FML issue 1659]