To Philip Langley
 
>she was *trying* to walk but her back legs wouldn't work, in that she kept
>on flopping over onto her side.... she seemed to have poor control over her
>back legs, and yet when I held her in my hands, I could feel her trying to
>jump out and knew that her back legs were not "paralysed" as I could feel
>the strength in them.  ... Then, about 15 minutes later, Mash was running
>around with no apparent symptoms.
 
Hindlimb weakness in most cases is a very non-specific sign in ferrets (akin
to a cat just laying around when it's sick) and can accompany jsut about any
systemic illness.  However, the fact that Mash recovered quickly, suggest
the possibility of an insulinoma and transient hypoglycemia.  A blood sugar
test may yield some very useful information in this case - many ferrets with
insulinomas have low blood sugar even between bouts of weakness, and it
onlly "bottoms out" during the episodes of stupor and lethargy....
 
Bruce Williams, DVM, DACVP              Chief Pathologist, AccuPath
Dept. of Veterinary Pathology               [log in to unmask]
Armed Forces Institute of Pathology
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[Posted in FML issue 1710]