>... Sarah is now almost four years old.  He is not shaped like a svelte
>weasel but looks more like a pear.  He is certainly bottom heavy.  He does
>sometimes drag his back legs.  I attributed that to the fact that he is fat
>and lazy.  He waddles rather than walks but he can run when he wants to,
>like chasing the cat time or fresh food in the bowl time.  Is sometimes
>dragging his hind feet laziness, obesity related or a real problem?  Is it
>time for me to panic and go back to the vet or should I wait until he stops
>walking or running entirely?...
 
I recently lost my very first ferret Hidey a few months before she would
have been five, who had very similar symptoms, she weighed 2lbs 14oz and
she looked HUGE, the first symptom that something was wrong was the rapid
weight gain and the decrease in activity, she had a very hard time walking
and it didn't help that we had hardwood floors.  She couldn't even make it
into the litter box or up the ramps in the cage.  We had to make special
stairs for her.
 
For about a year I took her to the vet about once a month.  We ran all kinds
of tests but nothing really seemed to set off any bells, she had several
Blood Glucose tests done (non-fasted) that all came back at around 250ish
normal BG's run about 100 (now I have information that this vet was giving
her nutrical as he drew blood to distract her, as is the regular practices
in his office so this is not as alarming to me as it seemed at first)
Her bilateral lymph nodes were also very visible but the vet didn't feel
anything strange so we contributed it to the fact that she was so
overweight.  She also had elevated liver enzymes which can signal the
presence of adrenal tumors.  We ruled this out because she had a beautiful
coat.  She went through a bought of pnemonia in February and came through
that fine.  Then she quit using the litter box entirely and started
urinating frequently and in large amounts.
 
In the begining of March I noticed a large lump high up in her abdomen on
her left side.  I freaked out and ran her to the vet.  Diagnosis?  Enlarged
spleen.  Ok well now what do I do?  He suggested an exploratory surgery, but
I didn't want to put her under anesthia because I knew she wouldn't come
home.  ( I had a ferret operated on previously for adrenal and had no
worries about her going under) I went home to think about it.  I went to
another vet for a second opinion and actually scheduled a surgery with him.
A week later (before the surgery) I noticed more lumps on her abdomen,
seemingly around her nipples, they were growing very fast!  I went back to
my original vet and we had an ultrasound done.  She had a cluster of large
tumers around her left adrenal gland.  I took her in for surgery right away.
She came through the surgery beautifully, but unfortuantely the vet fasted
her for 12 hours instead of the 4 that I begged for and we lost her to shock
shortly after she came out of the anesthisia.  The adrenal tumors turned out
to have been malignant (biopsies were sent out to Dr. Williams) the other
lumps were benign mammary tumors.
 
>Odo was wrapped in his blanket, NOT MOVING.  I poked the blanket and still
>NO MOVEMENT.  I felt the lump in the blanket and it was COLD TO THE TOUCH
>and NOT BREATHING.  I was very sad that Odo had died.... I pulled him out
>of the cage and was greeted with blurry eyes and a huge yawn.  After two
>years, DEAD FERRET SYNDROME struck our house again.
 
I have had this happen to me, it is VERY scary!!!!  I hate the sick feeling
it gives me in the pit of my stomach.  Though I am very relieved and
grateful when they wake up
 
Kelly & the Savvy Seven + Jake
[Posted in FML issue 2395]