In case anyone doesn't understand why I posted about the sling: As we all know, rear end problems happen for a wide variety of reasons, so the first step is *always* medical care and testing. Despite that care sometimes (rarely) very little can be done. In Meeteetse's case she has multiple progressive problems, is 8 years old (MF, chocolate), is not a surgical candidate but has three medications that help her including a pain med, and intermittently shows pain, frustration or both. Yet, she still loves to play, absolutely loves it, has a grand time, and is a bit too inclined to over-do it. With the added support of the sling she gets to flat-out run with me holding up her rear to a large extent and her using mostly her strong front legs with her rear ones just lightly touching down as in dream gliding. When she gets to do that she pretty well stops complaining -- it's a quality of life issue. The wheelchair mentioned in my other post today should be an improvement over that, though I expect we'll still use both to help her. The entire aim is to give her optimal quality of life for as long as she shows an interest in living. All or us have known ferrets in that sort of situation (or will in the future) and ways to keep them happy for as long as possible are essential to share. [Posted in FML issue 3198]