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Post by finnigan6 on Dec 18, 2010 14:30:01 GMT -5
Hello I am a new member to this forum. My 2 1/ 2 year old boy Dirk just got back to the vet with some very heartbreaking news: I noticed a few days ago that he had been dragging his back legs behind him and staggering alot while playing with his cagemate Finnigan...I quickly made a appointment with the vet, thinking it could be insulinoma...he lost control of his bowels yesterday while playing and went potty on the carpet right in front of me, he cant lift his bottom up to go properly. The vet x-rayed him and came back with news I was not prepared for: she showed me that his 9th thoracic vertebrae had been fractured and that there was no hope in sight..it was only a matter of time before he became completely paralyzed and in need of euthanizing. She also said she had never seen a ferret with such an injury and that it probably happened due to him falling down hard and that it *could* have been there for some time due to the bone regrowth surrounding it. Has anyone had this happen to one of their fuzz butts before? Is there anything I can do?? Maybe set him up with a wheelchair? He is fully aware, eating and drinking normal..just cant expel urine like he should be doing...I am not one to allow my beloved pet to suffer, but while he is here I want to provide him with the best care possible....he is only 2 1/2 and my heart is breaking! Thanks for any responses!
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Post by Jackie on Dec 18, 2010 15:26:09 GMT -5
I'm so sorry about your little one. I have no experience or advice for this, but my heart goes out to you. I think that a wheelchair is definitely a possibility. I wish I could be more helpful. Keep your head up, and know that his life will be filled with love and care, no matter what the outcome is.
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Post by finnigan6 on Dec 18, 2010 15:39:54 GMT -5
Thank you so much for the kind words...as a "fur-parent" it kills me knowing that his injury is fatal, I feel hopeless and just want the best for him.
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Post by mustelidmusk on Dec 18, 2010 16:14:45 GMT -5
This is terrible news. I'm so sorry to hear this. I do have experience with wildlife rehabiltation, and I have had some experience helping ferrets with spinal injuries improve their capabilities. I am not a vet, but it's my understanding that ferret spinal injuries can be over estimated in terms of severity by non-ferret vets. One thing I don't understand is how a fracture can go unnoticed until it's starting to regenerate calcium. I would think any fracture would be painful in terms of movement and touch before calcium starts collecting around the injury site. Quit a few ferrets do pretty well with no movement in the hind legs. We so have a thread on thread forum describing some therapy that enabled a paralyzed ferret regain some mobility as well as control over her bladder. I am in a rush this afternoon and will help later, but in the meantime, you may want to read the following thread: holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=medicine&action=display&thread=5217My advice for now to isolate your ferret and confine m to a smaller area with climbing areas for a couple of days. Allow some isolate mellow walking, but keep things very gentle for now. Start reading the thread above for an indication of recommended therapies. Do not give up just yet I gotta run right now but will be back to help any way I can. -jennifer
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Post by Heather on Dec 18, 2010 17:28:17 GMT -5
We had a posting here, someplace in the general section on how to build a wheelchair for your ferret. Spinal injuries are very common especially with ferrets who like to climb. I presently have a little girl who has a spinal injury, the debate is that both the vet and I have is did it occur at some point when she was a kit or is it congenital....the damage as far as we can see could be either. How she came into this injury (whether before she was turned into me or born with it) causes her considerable problems. She does travel around and manages not too badly on her own, she does better on piled up blankets than on the tiled floors. It becomes horribly apparent when the brats try to play with her. Their game is to knock her over, then she's rather like a turtle who can't get up...poor wee thing. Most of the time they leave her alone but it's the odd time when they're feeling particularly fertish and they pick on her. She does quite well, but check out the thread that Jennifer posted. This particular ferret did some amazing progress. Good luck ciao
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Post by sherrylynne on Dec 18, 2010 20:19:20 GMT -5
Here's an alternative to a w/c as well. It was posted by Bob Church on the FML a couple of years ago:
Q: "Hey Bob, I recall Bruiser was unable to walk. A lady on the FML asked about wheels...what did you use on him?"
A: Whips and chains. Oh, I'm sorry, isn't this the FS&MML?
No seriously, I didn't use wheels. I used a large silicon furniture mover disk, commonly called a slider.
What you need: 4-inch slider disk (the rectangular ones work best, but any shape can be modified), Heavy duty stapler, 4 3-inch Velcro strips (2 of each type), tin snips, fingernail file, boiling water.
Trim the slider disk with tin snips so it is as wide as the ferret's back end when the legs are folded in the proper sitting position. Cutting is made easier if you boil the disk for a few minutes.
When cool, sand off all rough edges with the fingernail file.
Boil the slider disk again and when still hot, slightly bend up one edge of the disk to help it not catch on stuff on the floor. I have found about a 1/2-inch bend so the edge of the disk is about 1/4-inch higher than floor level is about right. It will be the top edge of the ferret slider, the one facing the ferret's head end. You can also bend the back edge up a bit, but it is not as critical.
Use the stapler to attach a couple of Velcro strips, so they are at the corners (two at the top of the ferret slider and two at the bottom), and at an angle of about 45 degrees (again, hot plastic staples easier than cold plastic). I put the soft strip so it faces the body of the ferret and the barbed strip so it faces away from the body, and the strips are in opposite corners. Make sure your top bend is facing the body of the ferret.
Bend your ferret's legs into an anatomical position and strap them in, crisscrossing the Velcro strips to form an X on the back of the ferret (make it snug but not tight). The slider takes their back end off the floor, takes very little space so they can go just about anywhere their ferret friends can go, and it reduces floor friction so that they are as mobile -- or more -- than any ferret with wheels. Also, any poo-poo mistakes can be easily cleaned off the plastic. In fact, the ease of construction and extreme low cost makes it easy to construct several "Ferret Sliders", and when one is soiled, just strap on the clean replacement.
I used these "Ferret Sliders" with Bruiser and I thought they worked far better than a wheeled contraption. They are low tech, but very, very effective. Bruiser was able to follow other ferrets into tubes, and crawl into sleep sacks -- something he could never do with wheels. Also, if the slider gets stuck on something, the ferret can pull themselves out of the slider and not end up stuck for hours at the wall and the leg of a table. The sliders allow ferrets to be more like ferrets, require no moving parts, and can be made by just about anyone.
Give it a fair chance and I think you will like them better than a wheeled cart.
Bob C talktobobc@yahoo.com
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Post by mustelidmusk on Dec 19, 2010 3:00:51 GMT -5
Wheeled carts do not work well - sliders work better that wheels. However, Most people I know who have disabled ferrets find they do best with no art. We had a paralyzed ferret (spinal injury from a fall) come in to the shelter I work with. The ferret is under the care of my vet who does not want her i a slider or cart of any kind. This little girl has been able to regain some mobility. She now has a cage mate who is helping with additional rehab and mobility during play time.
-jennifer
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Post by finnigan6 on Dec 19, 2010 16:31:40 GMT -5
Thank you all for the responses. Dirk is not doing too well today... I moved him into a one level cage by himself (his brother Finnigan now has their 6 level pad all to himself) and found that he had defecated all over himself and his bedding....again...he just cant get his little butt up in the air to do it on his newspaper pads. The vet had told me that due to the crack in the spine the neurons are not firing the message from his bladder to brain, hence he has lost control over his ability to hold his potty, he just goes without realizing it...and all of this has just happened within the past few days!! He was absolutely fine in the beginning of the week! He did urinate a little, but his lil belly is swollen...I washed his behind with a warm washcloth but he is still so feisty and I worried he would twist his spine too much while fighting me. I thought about giving him a warm bath later this evening to fully remove the dried mess on his behind..any thoughts? I don't want to cause him any unnecessary stress! I let him out of the cage to have some light monitored play time, and his legs now seem to be completely immobile..at least yesterday he had some ability to use his hind feet to scoot/drag himself along, now he just drags himself and then speed bumps after he drags himself into his crinkle tube. I forgot to mention that the vet has me giving him a .35 cc dose of Rimadyl once every 24 hrs...and really didn't have much to say to me other than his spine is cracked, it will crack completely eventually, in which he will become fully paralyzed and will then need to be euthanized...in and out like an assembly line... This vet is an exotic vet by the way so she is experienced with ferrets..but neither her nor the techs gave me any advice on what to do for him between now and the "end" how to hold him and not to hold him so as not to speed up the damage, etc.... through my tears and dumbfoundedness my whole thought process had gone blank...and now I have a million questions!
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Post by shilohismygirl on Dec 19, 2010 19:19:44 GMT -5
Your vet doesn't sound compassionate. My vet would get the information to me, even if she had to search for it herself-or would at least be willing to explore all options and tell you everything she possibly could.
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Post by miamiferret2 on Dec 19, 2010 19:25:39 GMT -5
Have you considered acupuncture? I know it sounds stupid but it has worked. google "broward county ferret rescue and referral." There is a story there about how one of their paralyzed ferrets was helped a lot by acupuncture.
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Post by Heather on Dec 19, 2010 20:46:22 GMT -5
I'm sorry that this is advancing so quickly. Do you have any idea when he injured himself? Poor wee boy. Yes, warm water helps a lot. Don't put a lot in there but just enough to allow his body some buoyancy. If he has any feeling in those legs it will help him move them and help maintain some mobility. Remember that the water has to be quite warm, a ferrets body temp is about 102 so that's a lot warmer than you would for a small baby. If the water is just luke warm you may cause cramping of the muscles and your furbaby won't want to stay in the water. I always lay Calypso along my arm with her little legs hanging on either side of my arm and support the front half of her body with my hand (palm up) like a harness. She's always comfortable that way and it doesn't stress her back at all. I don't suppose that your vet has any alternative medical practitioners in her facility? Accupuncturists, message therapists, hydroptherapists??? all or any of these people might be able to assist your little one. Another thing you may have to consider is that your little one might need to eventually have his bladder and bowels expressed. At the moment, it doesn't appear to be an issue. I'm rather surprised at your vet's attitude regarding your little one's injury. I would have figured on more therapeutic and convalescent methods to be offered. ciao
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Post by mustelidmusk on Dec 20, 2010 12:18:57 GMT -5
How are things going? X-rays can be misread, especially by non-ferret vets. My concern is that with the rapid decline and your vet being ferret-knowledgeable, your vet may be accurate with the prognosis. A true frature in the spine is difficult to get healed, and such fractures can be very painful. If your ferret does not stabilize or improve over the next day or two, you may be faced with some very difficult decisions.
I'm keeping you and your ferret in my thoughts and prayers in hopes of a some signs of healing and improvement.
-jennifer
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taratee
Cageless and Roamin' Free
Posts: 255
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Post by taratee on Dec 20, 2010 21:52:29 GMT -5
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Post by finnigan6 on Dec 21, 2010 12:04:15 GMT -5
I have been racking my brain trying to think of how this fracture happened...the vet said it could have been there for awhile and just now reared its ugly head...she also mentioned maybe a tumor was there and pushing on it, but the x-ray clearly showed the crack..clear as day...and its cracked at an angle. You are correct shilohismygirl, the vet was not very compassionate...a thing that frustrates me to no end about most vets...our animals are our family...we care for them and love them on a daily basis as one would their own child...a little compassion from a vet would go a long way in time of crisis!! A little alternative advice so as to not just say theres NO hope, its inevitable, your animal is going to die. I know vets see death on a daily basis and some are hardened to it, you would have to be to get thru the day, but take the time to talk to each person who is paying you good money to see their pet, take the time to come into the room and talk to me, not throw that responsibility onto a tech. I understand his injury is fatal..when the time comes to end his suffering I will do what I must do.. but if there is ANY hope whatsoever, I will do whatever I can for Dirk and exhaust all options. Dirk laid in my arms motionless today for the longest time...he hasn't done that since he was a baby and I used to sing to him and rock him to sleep LOL..I have been giving him light massages to help calm him. At this point he cant even scratch himself like ferts do..that frenzied scratching that shakes the whole cage..he struggles and I wish I could help him!! Gave him a bath yesterday..I had to..he was a mess. He was angry and fought me but I tried to do it as quickly and efficiently as possible. I know I will have to repeat it again tonight... mustelidmusk, I am prepping myself for what must be done I think...he is just miserable and even though he is still feisty he just cant move the way he wants to..I am giving it til the weekend is over to make my decision. My emotions are all over the place with this..I am in disbelief..he is so very young still and its heartbreaking
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Post by rarnold18 on Dec 21, 2010 14:58:22 GMT -5
I know your going through a hard time with your fuzz being injured, and I feel so badly that your having to go through this right now during the holiday season...please know that you and Dirk are in my thoughts and prayers...
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