http://www.smartgroups.com/message/readmessage.cfm?gid=1423922&messageid=711
 
 
I am NOT double guessing your vet, but think I should point out ferret
joints are extremely supple.  Ferrets are domesticated polecats, who
evolved hunting animals in burrows and burys, requiring great physical
flexibility.  Ferrets can crawl through any hole their head can enter
(ok, maybe not those overly obese or suffering ascites), and turn around
in a tube hardly larger than their body.  To do this, they have to have
fairly lax joints.  This is great for a young hunting animal, but for a
pet ferret, especially in later life, it may (unproven) contribute to
various locomotor problems, possibly including hindlimb weakness, that
strange sideways shuffle some older ferrets develop, and joint stiffness
and pain as the muscle insertion and origin points continue to ossify,
reducing mobility.
 
You can test this joint laxness yourself with any ferret that you know
has good joints.  Holding the femur (upper leg) in position with one
hand, place your thump over the knee joint and gently rock the tibia
(lower leg).  Repeat this on your dog or cat, and you will notice the
ferret's knee joint has a great deal of flexibility in comparison.  The
ferret's backbone, hips, and shoulders are even more flexible, and it is
not unheard of for a vet with little ferret experience to misinterpret
normal joint laxness as a pathologic condition.
 
As for the repair, that would impress the hell out of me.  The space
between the femur and tibia in a ferret is about the thickness of a dime,
or less; can you imagine how long those ligaments are?  Talk about
microsurgery!  There are a lot of vets with the skills to do such fine
surgery, some on this list.  But, I think I would question the necessity
if the ferret was able to move around, especially if they were not in
pain.  If the other ligaments were intact, the joint was stable, and the
ferret wasn't suffering, I would worry surgery might cause more
complications than it might solve.  But, I am not a vet, nor do I pretend
to be one, so I suggest you get a couple of second-opinions from other
vets and make your decison based on those.
 
Wishing you the best of luck,
Bob
 
[Sukie note: so far on the Ferret Health List (which most can easily
join at Smartgroups) the opinions seem to be that the original poster
should go to a ferret-knowledgeable vet for a second opinion.]
[Posted in FML issue 3870]