I'm looking for some advice.  One of my ferrets has been having some
non-typical hind-end weakenss, progressively getting worse over the past
year -- non-typical in that 1). it seems to be both the front and hind
legs that he has trouble with, 2). when picked up his hind legs stretch
straight out and often seem excessively rigid, 3).  his paws seem to clutch
at times, curling his toes.  Our old vet thought it was adrenal; we saw a
new vet today, who tested his knee-jerk (patellar?) reflex -- it seemed
weak in one leg, but the other leg had, in his words, a perfect example
of text-book clonus -- the reflex repeated itself over and over after the
single tap.  In addition, his neck seems stiff, and the vet said his neck
did not feel normal, but instead felt as if there was some calcification,
as from a healed injury.  He's *never* had any injury that we know of --
he's never escaped from the house, so he hasn't come into contact with
other animals, he's never been stepped on or taken any excessive falls.
We're going to be bringing him back in for an x-ray, but in the meantime,
is there anything other than an injury that might cause these symptoms?  I
do know that his father died young of lymphoma, and I've heard that our
guy (aged 4) and one other ferret are the only two remaining alive of two
litters from this pairing.  (Other info: This ferret underwent exploratory
in the fall, after the onset of these symptoms -- his spleen was removed,
his adrenals & pancreas looked fine, but he had a tumor in his mesentery
that our vet was unable to remove; biopsy was inconclusive.  He's currently
on pred, 1.5 mg/day, but his blood glucose tests have only been marginally
low.)
 
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 Rochelle Newman              [log in to unmask]
 Assistant Professor          (319) 335-2417 (office)
 Department of Psychology     (319) 335-1979 (lab)
 University of Iowa           (319) 335-0191 (fax)
 11 Seashore Hall E
 Iowa City, IA 52242-1407
 http://www.psychology.uiowa.edu/Faculty/Newman/Newman.html
 ----------------------------------------------------------
[Posted in FML issue 2645]