For Cathy at [log in to unmask]
>Reba is droopy!  She behaves normally in most other ways, but when she walks
>she only uses her front legs and drags her hinny around...
 
It sounds like there are multiple problems that might be going on.  Most
medical types always try to find one underlying cause to explain all the
symptoms, but that does not seem possible with everything you listed.
Problem #1: weakness in the rear legs.  Your vet seems to have ruled out
neurological disease by finding normal muscle tone, etc.  A very common
cause for apparent rear leg weakness is hypoglycemia.  This may be difficult
to prove by just testing the blood sugar.  The reason is that periods of
excitement or stress can elevate the blood sugar.  Hence, the car ride to
the vet s and the handling to get the blood sample may elevate the number
into the normal range.  If a blood sugar has not been done, do it.  Another
test that your vet should look into is an insulin assay.  Over 350 pmol/L is
very suspicious.  Hypogylcemia can easily give a droopy personality.
Personally, I do not think that 2 1/2 pounds is an obese enough ferret to
cause the signs.
 
Problem #2: sporadic fever.  Typically a fever is not seen with an
insulinoma (the most common cause of hypoglycemia).  It might be some
respiratory disease but I would expect an elevated white blood cell count in
that case.  A differential count would also help to see if she has an
elevated eosinophilia count to see if heartworm is a possibility.  I would
aim for the cause of being droopy (see above) first.
 
Problem #3: all the other slightly abnormal findings.
Mild spleen enlargement - monitor only for now.
Possible heart enlargement - my big concern here is some underlying heart
disease. This may also cause the lung findings on the x-ray. Neither
antibiotics or steroids would really help heart disease and that may explain
the lack of response to medications. An ultrasound can be done to evaluate
cardiac function quite easily. Heart disease may also cause the droopiness,
but usually I do not see it confined to the rear end.
 
I hope this helps a little.
 
Mike Dutton, DVM, DABVP
Weare Animal Hospital
[Posted in FML issue 1412]