Howdy,
 
Not very good news yet.  The three guys I had that originally had the flu
then caught a secondary ear infection (which we question now) are doing
well as far as eating and being healthy in general, but they're still
suffering with this horrible ataxia (loss of equilibrium, coordination).
Jaws and Taz can function mostly, and try to act their old selves, but
this damn problem makes them seem afraid to move too much.  They sleep
alot.  Sid, our youngest, seems to have been affected the worst.  He
has a had problem telling up from down and upon awakening stumbles in
circles, sometimes even looking up and trying to climb on his hind legs
to go in that direction.  It breaks my heart to see these guys in this
condition.  All are eating enthusiastically and everything else seems
normal except for the excessive sleeping, which I think is from the
ataxia.
 
I would really like to hear from some of the vets on this list about
what might be going on.  My vet, a very good ferret doc, is puzzled.  We
thought it might be a middle ear infection, but since they've all been on
Baytril for almost 10 days and there's been no change my doc thinks it's
a neuritis of the nerve that goes from the ear to the brain (my pathetic
description of what he said).  They had an injection of some long lasting
steroids and they've been getting Tresaderm ear drops (part antibiotic,
part topical steroid).  The ear drops started yesterday, and the
injection was two days ago.  There has been little or no improvement with
the ataxia so far.
 
What I'm worried about is that this will be permanent.  Are there any
other medications or treatments that can be tried.  How long could this
last if it was going to clear up?  My guys are going back to the vet in 6
days for a recheck.  You can't believe how anxious my wife and I are
about this.
 
Any information from any of the vets on the list would be greatly
appreciated.  Any information from anybody else with this kind of problem
would also be appreciated.  I've gotten some responses from my previous
post, but nobody's had a problem quite like this.
 
Thanks,
Roary
Albuquerque, NM
[Posted in FML issue 4360]