I am short on time so for an increasing number of health posts I am having to assume that people will save the health site URLs mentioned for future access. ----- Hind leg weakness is a general symptom. Thrombosis (which is sometimes the cause of one weak leg) is not usual but can happen when there is kidney disease, cardiomyopathy, or liver disease present. There are likely less common causes of which I am unaware. Carefully meds (including some herbals like true licorice and ginseng) or items like caffienated beverages which carry a risk of causing fruther circulatory problems. Ask the vet if the initial one leg situation fit the pattern seen with thrombosis. Information on kidney disease is readily available in the archives of the FHL (also search under "Champ" as a full word and under "neph" as a partial word). Go to the sites under my name at the end of this post for finding expert help. When males are having urinary tract problems it can also pay to check adrenal health since some track back that as per info in the next paragraph. ----- Reminder: although most adrenal growths are benign neoplasia it makes sense to remove the growths except in those cases where the ferret's health (not age but health usually) counter-indicate surgery. There are many reasons why. First of all the growth may not be benign but if it an adenocarcinoma then prompt surgery is curative for most, allowing them to go on to have long life afterward. Males are prone to having some very serious consequences to the hormonal cascade since it often enlarges the prostate causing a urinary blockage that can go beyond UTIs and even damage the kidneys if there is back-up or can even rupture the bladder. That is one of the fatal complications. Another dangerous complication which is not unusual when surgery hasn't been done or when a growth grows fast is having spread to adjoining structures such as the liver or the Vena Cava, the body's largest vein. A more rare but fatal complication is to have hemolytic anemia occur. Another more rare complication that can be fatal is the formation of large deposits of fat not only in safe places but in dangerous ones such as the thoracic cavity. You get the idea of why such surgery is important so I'll stop here... The typical age of passing on in our household is between late in the 7th year to the middle of the 8th year, so don't think of 5 years as old. While there are rare ferrets who have problems like not coping well with even the safest anesthesias such as Iso, the typical ferret who has had work by a ferret knowledgeable vet (or by a good vet surgeon who takes the time to read up beforehand) comes through it fine. It is ESSENTIAL that meds like Florinef or an alternative, and Prednisone or an alternative be available afterward in case both adrenals must be removed fully or in case a partial or remaining adrenal gland simply does not produce enough of the essential adrenal products or is suppressed. Without those medications such individuals will die avoidable deaths. It is also important that vets be careful that a ferret be kept warm enough in and after surgery, and that the "owners" take all logical post-operative precautions by following the vet's directives, not allowing the ferret to climb during recovery, limiting access by the other ferrets (and then only with supervision) during the recovery, using a cleaner litter option such as newspaper (covered with paper towels if your papers have a high clay content) or Yesterday's News, remembering how important hydration and how useful a/d or meat baby foods (homemade or not) are in recovery, etc. The person with a ferret showing adrenal neoplasia symptoms who needed some California specific info can find it here: http://www.ferretnews.org/clinic.html http://www.ferretsanonymous.com/medical.html and can fid a good deal of further useful info ----- Sorry about accidently leaving out Dr. James Fox's title as a very prominent researcher with a doctorate yesterday. Sukie http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/ferrethealth (the current home of the Ferret Health List with it's conversations, ever growing extensive Files, and other helpful features) http://fhl.sonic-weasel.org/ (the easily searched site which holds the Ferret Health List Archives) http://geocities.com/sukieslist (a site given to me which I simply have not had time to learn to update so some of the links are no longer active and the FHL link is the old defunct one so instead use the one right under my name) [Posted in FML issue 3882]