Hi there!
Just to let everyone know-Havoc, my little boy with the weak back legs
isn't doing too bad.  My vet prescribed Metacam for him (it's a medicine
for dogs with arthritis and hip displasia) and you wouldn't believe the
difference it made!  He can actually get his legs underneath him (on carpet
of course!) although he doesn't have complete control-yet!  Hey, there
might be hope!!
 
However, Havoc and I have been battling problems with his penis.  He keeps
sticking it out and dragging it.  The vet thinks it's something to do with
his nerves.  (X rays showed where the paralysis occurred in his back, a
vertebrae is collapsed and is putting pressure on nerves, but is apparently
inoperable.)  The first time it happened was just before Christmas, when he
prolapsed it.  It bled-all over my room!  I came home late, and it really
looked like someone had been slaughtered there!  I panicked, thinking I
had already lost my little one.  However, $300.00 later (all my christmas
shopping money!) Havoc was fixed up (thank God!).  But since then, he can
only have free run for about 10 min at a time, b/c then he's stickin it out
again, rubbing it raw and risking infection.  Well, a couple of weeks ago
it became infected so back to the vet.  She put him on Amoxicillin, which
helped, but he's now got to the point where the os (bone in penis) is badly
exposed.  She says he'll be all right for now, but she strongly reccommends
a urostromy, which is where she cuts a hole a little further back from the
lip of the sheath, and urine dribbles out.  She also shortens the os.  She
has done this a lot in bull dogs, but not in a ferret.  If this isn't done,
he'll keep on getting infections.  Has anybody else's little one undergone
a urostromy, or have any thoughts on this procedure???
 
Sorry to take so long, just wanted to give all background details!!
 
Take care,
Vanessa, Squirt, Kita,Sox, Havoc, and Indy
[Posted in FML issue 3346]