I am short on time so for an increasing number of health posts I am
having to assume that people will save the health site URLs mentioned for
future access.
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Hind leg weakness is a general symptom.  Thrombosis (which is sometimes
the cause of one weak leg) is not usual but can happen when there is
kidney disease, cardiomyopathy, or liver disease present.  There are
likely less common causes of which I am unaware.  Carefully meds
(including some herbals like true licorice and ginseng) or items like
caffienated beverages which carry a risk of causing fruther circulatory
problems.  Ask the vet if the initial one leg situation fit the pattern
seen with thrombosis.  Information on kidney disease is readily available
in the archives of the FHL (also search under "Champ" as a full word and
under "neph" as a partial word).  Go to the sites under my name at the
end of this post for finding expert help.  When males are having urinary
tract problems it can also pay to check adrenal health since some track
back that as per info in the next paragraph.
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Reminder: although most adrenal growths are benign neoplasia it makes
sense to remove the growths except in those cases where the ferret's
health (not age but health usually) counter-indicate surgery.  There are
many reasons why.  First of all the growth may not be benign but if it an
adenocarcinoma then prompt surgery is curative for most, allowing them to
go on to have long life afterward.  Males are prone to having some very
serious consequences to the hormonal cascade since it often enlarges the
prostate causing a urinary blockage that can go beyond UTIs and even
damage the kidneys if there is back-up or can even rupture the bladder.
That is one of the fatal complications.  Another dangerous complication
which is not unusual when surgery hasn't been done or when a growth grows
fast is having spread to adjoining structures such as the liver or the
Vena Cava, the body's largest vein.  A more rare but fatal complication
is to have hemolytic anemia occur.  Another more rare complication that
can be fatal is the formation of large deposits of fat not only in safe
places but in dangerous ones such as the thoracic cavity.  You get the
idea of why such surgery is important so I'll stop here...
 
The typical age of passing on in our household is between late in the 7th
year to the middle of the 8th year, so don't think of 5 years as old.
 
While there are rare ferrets who have problems like not coping well with
even the safest anesthesias such as Iso, the typical ferret who has had
work by a ferret knowledgeable vet (or by a good vet surgeon who takes
the time to read up beforehand) comes through it fine.  It is ESSENTIAL
that meds like Florinef or an alternative, and Prednisone or an
alternative be available afterward in case both adrenals must be removed
fully or in case a partial or remaining adrenal gland simply does not
produce enough of the essential adrenal products or is suppressed.
Without those medications such individuals will die avoidable deaths.
It is also important that vets be careful that a ferret be kept warm
enough in and after surgery, and that the "owners" take all logical
post-operative precautions by following the vet's directives, not
allowing the ferret to climb during recovery, limiting access by the
other ferrets (and then only with supervision) during the recovery, using
a cleaner litter option such as newspaper (covered with paper towels if
your papers have a high clay content) or Yesterday's News, remembering
how important hydration and how useful a/d or meat baby foods (homemade
or not) are in recovery, etc.
 
The person with a ferret showing adrenal neoplasia symptoms who needed
some California specific info can find it here:
http://www.ferretnews.org/clinic.html
http://www.ferretsanonymous.com/medical.html
and can fid a good deal of further useful info
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Sorry about accidently leaving out Dr. James Fox's title as a very
prominent researcher with a doctorate yesterday.
 
Sukie
http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth (the current home of
the Ferret Health List with it's conversations, ever growing
extensive Files, and other helpful features)
http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org/ (the easily searched site which holds
the Ferret Health List Archives)
http://geocities.com/sukieslist  (a site given to me which I simply
have not had time to learn to update so some of the links are no
longer active and the FHL link is the old defunct one so instead use
the one right under my name)
[Posted in FML issue 3882]