Hi all again:
 
For those of you who have been following Ricky's case, I've got an update
and I need some information.
 
In a nutshell, I felt a lump in the area of Ricky's abdomen.  I thought it
was his spleen, but I took him to a vet today and was told that it is in
fact his right kidney, and it is large.  Typically, the left kidney in
ferrets is larger than the right (the vet told me), but when she felt Ricky
she couldn't even find the left one at first.  When she did, she told me
that it is so small that she believes that it is non-functional, and the
right one is so large because it's trying to work for both of them.
 
She believes that it is very possible that all of his walking problems could
be related to this kidney problem.  This scenario is so very different from
what I expected; I was still holding on to the teeth hurting theory,
although that was pretty much blown out of the water when Ricky went back to
chowing down solid food with no difficulty.
 
So, if *anyone* out there has any information about kidney failure/problems,
and especially how it could be related to his hind-end weakness (which is
MUCH MUCH better these days, by the way), please e-mail me directly.  Also,
I'm interested in knowing about treatment/life expectancy etc.  related to
kidney problems.
 
By the way, I know that a few of you did e-mail me and mention that kidney
problems could be the cause here.  Pat yourselves on the back!!!  I just
wish that my regular vet would have thought of it; because he didn't, I
didn't pay as much attention to the e-mails I got suggesting kidney
problems.  Stupidly, I believed that my vet would have mentioned it, no
disrespect to him--he's been trying very hard--but because he didn't I might
have delayed his treatment.  This other vet is optimistic as Ricky is having
no other problems yet.  We're doing a blood panel on Monday and an X-Ray,
then we are going to proceed with treatment.
 
Thanks for all of your support so far; let's hope we've found the problem,
finally, and can get him the treatment he's been asking us for.
 
Kymberlie Becker
Director, Pennsylvania Ferret Rescue Association
"Forget Puppy Love...There's nothing Greater than Ferret Love!" TM
 
If you haven't already, go see a picture of Ricky and his sister Sassy (and
some of the other fuzzbutts) at:
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/ferretlady
Ricky: "Hey mom, you mean we might finally have found the cause of my
        problems? Jeez! It's about time!"
Sassy: "Come on, mom, get Ricky treated already. He looks so stupid walking
        funny with that bum back leg!"
[Posted in FML issue 1925]