First of all, thanks again to all of the private well wishers that have been
E-mailing.  There continue to be so many (yesterday's count was 80) and I
can not possibly answer them all.  If you did not get a personal response,
please accept my apologies, and know that I very much appreciate your
continued concern.
 
Last night around 9:00 p.m., Bubba began to brighten a little.  This
morning, he was sitting up (back end still not working) although he was
shaky.  This afternoon he fought tooth and nail while I was giving him his
sub-q fluids.  Tonight, I got him to eat a little hamburger (I know it isn't
on the best of ferret menus, but he ate I don't care what it is).
Yesterday, in addition to his regular meds, I got 8 cc's of Timmy' Tonic,
with a few drops of Colloidal Silver and Milk Thistle down.  I am up to 7
cc's so far today.  I am hoping for at least 10 but hopefully 12 before the
day is over.
 
I don't dare start getting excited because I do not believe we are out of
the woods yet.
 
We have no idea what is wrong with Bubba.  I am finally able to rationally
think, so, here are the findings, has anyone ever encountered anything like
this before?
 
Symptoms first started with hind end weakness.  He was a little clumsly in
his gait when he came to live with us almost 2 weeks ago, but due to his
demeanor, we believed the problem to be due to several months of confinement
in a very small cage, on a wire floor.  On Tuesday night of last week, we
noticed he had stopped using his back end.  We had had a previous
appointment made with our vet for that Thursday night.
 
At the vet, he was showing no signs of illness, however, he was not using
his back end.  X-rays were taken and oddly enough, he began walking again,
for a short time, after the manipulation which was involved in taking the
x-rays.  We left with prednisone.  No masses appeared on x-rays, no masses
were detected from palpation.
 
On Friday afternoon, Bubba crashed.  He became dull and listless and severly
dehydrated.  Blood was taken with the follwing results:BUN @ 42, Creatinine
@ 0.9, WBC @ 16.6, PCV @ 69, MCV @ 49, SGOT 2040 (normal maxes at 280!) and
SGOT @ 890 (normal max again at 280).  The rest of the blood work was
normal.
 
Saturday morning he was rushed back to the vet for sub-q fluids and another
once over.  Again no masses were detected.  by this time adrenal disease and
insulonoma we effectively ruled out  We left with oral Flagyl, injectable
Baytril and sub-q fluids.  As Saturday became Sunday - Bubba continued to
worsen until he could no longer even lift his head.
 
I don't know whether it was the meds finally taking hold, or the Timmy's
Tonic, or just a plain old miracle brought on by the many prayers on his
behalf, but Bubba started coming back Sunday night.  (I will continue all
three until he is well or leaves us).
 
Through all of this, Bubba's coat improved in thickness, appearance, luster,
and touch.  Additionally, Bubba's "beer belly" remained unchanged.  While he
has shown weight loss in all other parts of his body, his stomach remained
plump and soft.  He still has no use of his hind end.  He had diahrea one
day only.  The rest of his stools were formed, although he has not eaten
other than only a few cc's a day of duck soup.  What ever he has, it is not
contagious, as his brother ferret, who has been diagnosed with just about
everything in the book has not had the same symptoms.
 
Has anyone ever heard of an illness like this before?  We really would like
to have a hint as to what we are dealing with here.
 
Hoping for yet a better tomorrow for Bubba,
 
Kathy.
[Posted in FML issue 2256]