>I'm wondering if anyone out there has had a ferret who has dislocated or
>broken something and if their crazy little fuzzbutt was still the same
>ol', same ol' little monster!?!?
 
It's been a LONG week!!  Last monday night we came home around 11pm and got
the ferrets out to play.  My son yells "Mom, there's something wrong with
Rocket".  He carries in what seems to be a 'lifeless' ferret.  My heart
skipped a beat and I got that sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach
as I took my first little ferret from my son.  I realize that he is indeed
alive but very lethargic.  I put him on the floor and he tries to walk but
can't seem to get his hind legs moving and just flops over and lays there.
On further inpsection I feel a lump in his abdomen on his left side.  Ok, I
think, hmmmm enlarged spleen?  Lethargy?  Hind end weakness?  Insulinoma?
Hypoglycemia?  So I grab the Karo Syrup..... 20 mins later.... no change.
 
Called the emergency animal clinic, "Sorry, no vets here that know
ferrets." Call my regular vet, answering machine gives me a cell phone
number.... call that and leave a message.  Twenty more minutes go by.
Rocket is looking even worse and I'm scared to death.  Bite the bullet,
grab the phone book, find the vet's home number.  Ok, so what it's after
midnight, I call him.  What a WONDERFUL vet I have!!  Ten minutes later
we're sitting on his front porch at his house, giving Rocket an exam!!
 
He says "It looks like he's injured his back" and my heart sinks even
deeper.  I'm thinking paralysis.  A shot of cortisone and instructions to
bring him in for xrays in the morning and we come back home.  I start the
duck soup.  (Lucky to have it on hand since Shilo is still on it from her
adrenal surgery last month.  She's doing fantastic now and almost has her
whole coat of fur back!!) I got about 10 cc's of duck soup and 6 cc's of
water into Rocket and about 10 minutes later he wants to get on the floor
and play!!
 
Poor little guy!!  Such sad eyes as I put him in his cage and tell him
that he's supposed to rest!!  Suddenly he seems just fine.  Hind legs are
working so much better.  A little wobble here and there but he'd rather be
climbing!!  The next day the xrays comfirmed a 'vertebral separation' with
a calcification.  I'm in shock again.  Don't have a clue when or how it
could have happened.  And we're puzzled by the enlarged spleen.  Couldn't
do blood glucose testing due to the cortisone shot.
 
So now to make this LONG story short..... we're limiting his playtime and
keeping him well rested.  Staying on the duck soup.  Watching closely for
any more episodes of lethargy.  Thinking that after the injury he didn't
eat or drink and was dehydrated and weak and the duck soup that night along
with the cortisone perked him up.  It's friday now and he's acting quite
normal and playing just fine.  And I am totally AMAZED that even with an
injury like that he could still be such an energetic little fuzzbutt one
day after I thought he was surely dying in my arms!!
 
Thank goodness for such a FANTASTIC vet who loves little critters and
didn't even hesitate to say "I better have a look at him" even though
it was after midnight.  The vet clinic's motto is "Warm hearts for cold
noses" and it's soooo true!!
 
Thought I should share this story.  It just seems that our fuzzled little
guys can be such a mystery at times!!
 
Katie :)
Rocket and Shilo (fuzzbutts)
Pepe the 'get-that-ferret-away-from-my-tail Cat'  and
Pyper the 'I-KNOW-I'm-just-a-big-ferret Cat!
[Posted in FML issue 3513]