No easy answer for that; it will depend on the nature and the location
of the break.  Some locations on a limb and some on any given bone heal
better than others.  Some locations will leave a limb shorter than the
rest.  Some types of breaks require very difficult and expensive work,
others require just rest.  Only way for you to tell will be to get a vet
exam and x-rays up-front.
 
Ear: Again, something that a vet needs to access, and pathology and
removal may be important, depending on cause.
 
ECE: you might as well get info from the person who first identified the
the coronavirus that causes it and has been involved in continuing
research of it: http://www.afip.org/ferrets/ECE/ECE.html
 
It's being to seem like there may be a lot of new people.  The last time I
posted the resource list was in was 12/18, or 12/19, or 12/20 (with a
slightly different version on 12/10).  Since it has been too soon for
re-post of resources go to
http://listserv.cuny.edu/archives/ferret-search.html ,
go to the Dec. 2001 section, then sort by poster or date, or check in
the FHL files and bookmarks (See next paragraph.).
 
Insulinoma: 6 and 1/2 is not too old unless there are counter-indicating
health factors, or the vet simply is too unused to ferrets to feel safe
doing the op.  You'll find a lot of hard info in the resource list
mentioned in the last paragraph.  Are you in an ares where there may be a
ferret specialist without your knowing it?  You can find vet lists at
http://miamiferret.org/fhc and also in the BOTH the recommended vets file
and the SOS file at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ferret-Health-list/
 
Dog food: It also lacks enough taurine so can cause premature blindness
and very possibly also heart damage if it takes the place of too much of
the right foods.  Dog food is great as a treat, though, in SMALL amounts,
and as such is safer than may of the carbohydrate and non-meat treats
given.
 
>Over the years have heard about a ferret which chitt and chats all the
>time... We might have to find her a new home since she won't introduce
>to our tribe after 2 months.
 
Sounds deaf or partly deaf, which is not unusual in some fancies --
downright common in some types of fancies.  If you go to the paragraph in
which I mention the resource list and search that out you will find
several that include help for figuring out deaf ferrets.  They work out
wonderfully if the people match their behaviors to the ferrets' needs.
 
>His prostate was huge (probably cancerous) and had apparently been
>putting pressure on his bladder--which they suspected had ruptured...
>They did what they could to stabilize him in preparation for an operation
>to remove the prostate but it was too late....
 
We had one who was just saved with sudden enlargement ourselves.  The
single exceedingly most common cause of prostate enlargement in ferrets is
adrenal disease (with or without other symptoms).  Prostates are pretty
well hell to get to in a ferret, but when the trouble is caused by adrenal
growths removing the adrenal that is up reduces the prostate rapidly.
There are also medical options which vet Jerry Murray has discussed on
the FHL and in FHL cross-posts in the FML archives.
[Posted in FML issue 3655]