I don't want to scare the newbies to ferretdom, but I DO need to vent when things get hard here, and it might be that someone else will have one throw a clot and will know what to do because of Meltdown's experience. ( It is so upsetting when I read about vets who still don't know the things which have been long understood in relation to symptom clusters and treatments. Something I find frustrating is when a reader complains about the health posts, then a while later the person will post frantically and we read that a critical bit of info about common health problems was not known and was not acted upon in time depsite it being a topic of conversation every few months, with updates on treatment progress regularly given, and most of or all of the basic data in the FAQs. It's each owner's responsibility to read the FAQs, including the health FAQs and to pass on the health FAQs, plus any interesting health posts to the vets: they WILL keep your ferret alive! Much more sleep last night than the one before, but Steve and I won't be able to go back to regular sleep schedules till tonight. She will be having one quater ofd an aspirin every three days (more if she throws other clots but that is not likely, though it can happen), and she can restart her Winstrol which helps give her such a positive attitude and better quality of life. Without that she might give up. She has very mild reduction of function in that leg, which we are told is common when the problem corrcts in the first 12 hours. If it had lasted 48 hour s she probably would not have gotten back the leg. We were afraid that without a wheelchair she might give up, too, but years ago we gave our's to someone with an emergency and it was never returned, plus the type of casters we usedwere tiny and had unusual tops which let us mount a wire frame be mounted with the casters still having full mobility. Fortunately, Dayna is known to have experience in this realm (and we'd recently been corresponding about wheelchairs and PT and the like because kritters (Can't recall her formal name right now; still a bit sleep deprived.) wants to put together all the info she can get on that to help her little one and so that the FAQs can contain a section on that topic, too. Dayna was ready to jump on a moment's notice with plans and with the source for the casters, and was greatly relieved when the treatment gave Meltie her leg back. (Thank you, Dayna!!) They tell a person when it is time but Meltdown still enjoys life. It's true that she sleeps most of the time, and hates her meds, but she is showing frustration only abot 10 to 20 minutes every few weeks, otherwise she is boss of the universe, spoiled rotten, gets treats every single day, gets to spend hours every day in my shirt, is carried everywhere, is bed guest every night for a while, is massaged, etc., etc... Cardiomyopathy is tricky to manage, each case is different, and it is always hard for the people involved (just as insulinomae, birth defects, cancers, and some other things can be) but having experienced (over 14 or so years) I guess all now of the most dangerous things to which ferrets are most prone (three times in combination) we can honestly say that if we could choose which disease/disorder our guys would have for their last we would go with cardiomyopathy (but without ascites for as long as possible, and then with the type which goes into the abdomen rather than the chest cavity) because it is so much more comfortable for them and the tiredness for much of it well matches the level of ability so frustration with the two we have had with it was greatest in the beginning when they were still safest. Did you realize that Meltdown is coming up to ten months since her's was discovered, and that there were three times when it looked like she would have to be put down but she just plowed on through? She is just getting each last little bit of sweetness from life. Maybe it's easier to treasure the good parts and want to enjoy them when they are few, and when you mostly have sovereignty over your own life. Now I have to go tend to the boss again! Sukie [Posted in FML issue 1817]