I can't believe all the wonderful advice I am getting regarding Foster's
arthritic condition.  Many asked me to discribe him in more detail, so here
goes.
 
Foster is 9-years-old and originated from a hobby breeder near Kansas City.
He was neutered late in life.  He was placed for adoption with his two
ferret-friends Razz (3; formerly Spaz) and Buddy (6).  I adopted them last
fall from the KC Ferret Hotline; a wonderfully run shelter headed by Dr.
Bobbie McCanse (I hope I spelled that right).  Foster and friends had been
feed cheap cat chow (not by Bobbie), and trust me, it was not easy changing
thier minds about the goodness of better food.  They finally switched when I
lightly dusted Iams and Science diet with confectioner's sugar mixed with
ground up Nine Lives--once they were eating it, I slowly added less and less
of the sugar mix, and now they are totally on high quality chows and
wholesome treats.  (My addiction has proved harder to control...I *love*
Nine Lives....)
 
Foster is quite active as far as things go, but only about half as active as
most of the other ferrets.  He is alert, responsive (sometimes comes to his
name) and quite dominant over a few of the ferts.  His passion is to be held
and rocked in "The Chair;" he can literally go for hours in your lap.  He
plays with some of the other ferrtets, especially Buddy and Razz, but also
Nosette and Gus, and also loves climbing into bags and balls.  His teeth are
sound, although the carnassials are quite worn from a lifetime of eating
pelleted foods.  Good eyes and ears.  His spleen is slightly to moderately
enlarged.  His coat finally came in, and is soft and thick; no evidence of
adrenal, kidney, or gastrointestinal problems.  There is some question of
inbreeding in his line, but the effect is more pronouced in Buddy.  In
short, he is as healthy as any of my ferrets, and has a spooky resemblance
to the good-luck dragon from "The Never Ending Story."
 
Foster's main problem is an arthritic condition in his hips and lower back;
quite pronouced actually.  If you set him down after a period on your lap,
he can hardly walk, and his hind end will sometimes fall over or stumble.  I
place a cloth-covered reptile heating stone (flat--not brick type) in his
bedding during cold weather, which helps some.  (All the beasties love the
rock heaters--I cover them with terrycloth and plug them in the colder
corners.  Often I find 13 ferrets piled on top of each other completely
covering the stone.  The surface temperatures of the stone never exceed 90
F, and in the cooler corners range about 80-85 F) I also bathe him on odd
days in warm mineral water, then rub him down with coat and mane
conditioner, which he enjoys and tolerates well.  Sometimes I take him into
the shower with me and just massage his rump (sounds weird...did I read
something like this on one of those news:alt places?).  Still, he seems to
be in obvious pain at times.
 
My backhanded question a few posts ago was if anyone gave anti-inflamatories
to their fuzzies, what type and amount.  The question had never come up to
my vet before (with ferrets), and neither of us really want to experiment on
the old guy.  (My dad used to say the sure way to make the car break down is
to start fixing it.) Now that the weather is getting warmer, I may not need
to do anything other than what I am already doing, but cold weather is bound
to return, and since everyone on the FML represents hundreds of thousands of
years of experience...well, maybe thousands, well, I'm open for advice.
 
Truth is, all I want to do is give the old guy a quality life for the rest
of his days, however long they may be.  He deserves that much.
 
Bob and the 13 Deluxe Crapinators
[Posted in FML issue 1549]