On of my jills had another 'episode' (stroke?) on Friday morning. I found
her lying on the bottom of the cage which she shares with her two brothers.
(They are approx 5 y.o.)
One of her brothers walked over her and she screamed. Immediate thought
from me was that she had a spinal injury because she didn't appear to have
any control over her back legs and was just scrabbling around using her
front feet. I thought that Dax had had an 'episode' and fallen down the
ramp hurting her back.
I managed to slide a piece of plywood under Dax and transfer her to a
carrying box. Fortunately my vet is only 10 minutes walk away from me. I
was first at the surgery and the vet nurse knows that when I take a ferret
in as an emergency it is. Edgar, the vet, was in early, so Dax was seen
straight away.
Dax didn't react when Edgar lifted her from the box. Her spine didn't
appear to be troubling her, she reacted when her back paws were squeezed
but didn't have any control over them and couldn't stand. She also jumped
when a hand made a rapid movement in front of her face. Makes me think her
screaming when Max had walked over her was through fear and not pain. Dax
did not appear to know where or what her back legs were doing, Edger bent
her back paws so that the knuckle was resting on the table, she didn't move
her paw back to a normal position, the same with the front paws, she didn't
attempt to move the paw back to resting on the pad for several seconds.
Edgar gave Dax a steroid injection to reduce any inflammation off the spine
column. He thinks it might be a spinal tumour but if it is it must be
slow growing... 8 hours after the steroid injection Dax was standing up.
Yesterday I had to go down to Coventry - a 120 mile journey using mainly
motorways - so Dax and Spooky (another jill who is recovering from E.Coli)
came with me. When Dax was allowed out of her cage at June's she explored
the house. She was wobbly at first but got better as she moved around.
One thing that did puzzle us was that she would jump if a hand or something
appeared within her range of vision. She nearly did a four paw take off
when she walked up to broom... it was as though the broom head wasn't
visible to her until she was within 6" of it. I know approach Dax very
carefully and slowly, from directly ahead of her nose, she is quite calm
then.
To sum up, rear end weakness and nervous reaction to sudden movement.
She's eating and drinking OK. When Spooky became ill she was tested for
CDV, ADV all the results came back negative. All my ferrets have been
vaccinated against CDV.
I'll be taking Dax and Spooky to see Edgar tomorrow morning - he'll be
delighted with Spooky's progress and with the fact that Dax is now up and
running so to speak but no further forward as to the cause.
I know you think that ferrets don't suffer from strokes, but have you any
idea what else it could be?
(Previous history - Dax had tests and X-ray to try to find out why she
had rear end weakness and poor reaction when her back paws were dragged
(gently) over the edge of the examination table - she just didn't appear
to know where they were and didn't attempt to flick them up and over the
edge onto the table top - I hope you understand what I mean. Tests and
X-rays didn't show any obvious cause.)
--
Sheila
Bolton Ferret Welfare.
Author of "All about your Ferret" - Ringpress ISBN 1-86054-171-2 (UK)
Barron's ISBN 0-7641-1189-2 (USA & Canada)
NFWS. Web Site: http://www.n-f-w-s.co.uk last update 20 November 2000
Web Site: www.sheila.btinternet.co.uk/bolton.htm last update 11 November
2000
Waiting at Rainbow Bridge: Jill, Deanna Troy, Cameron, Carnath, Button,
Bill, Bobby, Jasper, Inga, Holly, Fergle, Amanda, Sparky, Daniel, Blackie,
Marvin, Claude & Bumper
[Posted in FML issue 3249]
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