I found a note from one of my email elves that said I needed to respond to
this right away.  Since I hope to see the elf and use their couch sometime
in the future, I will comply.
 
>Missy is only 6 months old and her bones are not yet big enough for the
>surgery she needs and I don't have enough money (about $1,000) to have it
>performed.  We have had to tape her leg to her body and hope that it heals
>with minimal damage and loss of use.
 
Not having seen the xrays, and not being a vet, I cannot say with certainty
that everything will be fine.  But I can say this is an accepted practice
that results in very good results, so it is probable that Missy will heal
with little or no problems.  Sometimes the bone will heal a bit shorter and
might have a few lumps on it, but for the most part, there should be no
long lasting problems.
 
Missy still has a lot of growing to do, so the bones will respond fairly
quickly to this problem and knit together fairly rapidly.  The $1000 dollar
surgery you describe is probably to pin the bones together with tiny wires,
which stabilize the broken ends so they heal straight (and fast).  The
taping procedure does about the same thing, but it has the risk of the bone
healing slightly bent where it is broken, or or the ends pushing past each
other, shortening the bone and leaving a lump.  I am sure the vet made all
efforts to stabilize the ends before they taped up the ferret, so I
personally would not anticipate a problem.  You might want to ask the vet
to check the bone in a week or so, maybe re-xray to make sure it is healing
straight.  My guess is everything will be alright.
 
I would suggest you try and keep Missy as quiet as possible, but I'm not
sure how you can do that with a 6 month old kit.  Good luck on that one.
Maybe keep her in a small carrier, and away from her friends for the next
10 days or so.  At least supervise ferret-ferret interactions.  Instead,
play with her yourself; you will only increase the bond between the two of
you.  Personally, I think the worst problem will be in trying to convince
Missy to leave the bandaging alone.
 
I know of at least 6 instances where a ferret has broken a limb while
young.  In all cases, the bones were either stabilized with taping (like
in Missy's case), or left alone with the ferret kept in a small carrier
to minimize movement.  All cases healed well with no long term effects.
It sounds to me like your vet did a good job of balancing your needs with
those of the ferret.
 
Ok, Elf. You happy now? ;-)
 
Bob C and 16 Mo' Boneheads of Bhordom
[Posted in FML issue 2756]