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Post by EiraoLaska on Jun 26, 2019 17:56:39 GMT -5
Sex: Male Age: Estimated 3 yrs, possibly older Diet: Wysong Epigen 90 Known issues: Waardenburg syndrome. Chronic abnormal walking gait (has issues walking straight lines without his butt swinging out to the side). Persistent off-and-on wheezing. Severe vaccine reactions.
My ferret, Affliction, has recurring problems with his back legs. He'll get a limp and what looks like weakness in his hind legs. He tends to stretch his legs/hips more when this happens. It only ever lasts a day but happens every couple of months. He's either not been limping during normal vet trips, or has stopped limping before we call the vet. We bring all of his issues up with the vet when he sees him but so far he hasn't seemed concerned about this issue.
Here's a video I just took of him walking towards me;
You can see it looks like his legs buckle the first time he tries to get to me. His back legs seem to bother him but by the 3rd time he comes to me, he's walking normally (again, his gait has always been off). This never effects his activity level or food/water intake. I don't know if it's part of his waardenburg syndrome or not. He has other persistent issues related to that or some other congenital problem that's led to over a dozen vet trips that yielded no solution. I don't know if this is just another one of his many problems or something new. I can't get him to a vet till next week, and he won't be limping anymore by then going by his past patterns. Just looking for any insights/advice.
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Post by abbeytheferret6 on Jun 27, 2019 7:51:19 GMT -5
Has anyone offered to x-ray him? Is he out every day? Is his cage large enough so he is not cramped in anyway-- plenty of padding on wire ladders and wire flooring? I had a girl with an acl tear. I do not know if I can find the recording of her walking. I will try. Is your vet an exotic vet? Also did you show them the recording? Yes, something is not right. Sometimes insulinoma causes hind leg weakness. A blood sugar test is pretty cheap here. I go for the one where they shave the neck. My vet's tech did not draw enough blood from my male's foot prick, and it showed a real low reading. Because he was 1.5 years old, my vet decided to draw blood from the neck to make sure--- and there was a big discrepancy. Maybe some others here will know something. Here is something on insulinoma and other things. www.paw-talk.net/forums/f20/hind-limb-weakness-ferret-6581.html
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Post by EiraoLaska on Jun 27, 2019 9:35:32 GMT -5
Abby;
He has not been xrayed for this specific problem. He is out daily from 6am-9pm. Cage is a 3 tiered Ferret Nation cage with fleece blankets, but no padding on the ladders.
If he had an acl tear, wouldn't he limp constantly? This is sporadic. He's already walking normally (as normal as he ever does) this morning after limping yesterday. He'll opt to climb to the second floor of his cage to eat rather than just go to a much closer bowl of food near where he sleeps too (both bowls having fresh food).
Yes, his is an exotics vet with experience treating ferrets. He's been great with all our ferrets every time, it's just that Affliction has a long list of issues that can't really be fixed, so I think he's lumping this in with all those, especially since he's never walked normally. This is the first time I've recorded him so I'll be sending the video to him to get an opinion. He's had blood work done before that came back fine but it's been over a year so he should probably be checked again.
Thank you!
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Post by abbeytheferret6 on Jun 28, 2019 8:02:05 GMT -5
It would seem so. My girl's acl tear grew scar tissue and stabilized her knee. She passed away from a tumor on her liver, so I was not able to observe any long term problems with it. Also the vet said she would get arthritis there. I would go ahead and buy some covers for his ladders. Some of us do things like this. This is 2 ladders staggered although you can get the long entrance ladder(zip-tied tube because of narrowness of ladders). I also use a bin which mine enjoys sleeping in as well (hole cut in one end). Let us know when you find out something. I do have a waardy but she has no structural problems other than wide set eyes and being deaf. There is a member whose waardy has jaw problems. It is really sad that they come with issues.
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Post by EiraoLaska on Jun 28, 2019 12:52:59 GMT -5
Sorry to hear about your girl. =(
I'll get the ladders covered. I need to find a "grippier" covering. Fabric coverings made going up easier, but coming down harder for all the ferrets.
I'll post an update when I can!
6/28/19 I am waiting for a email from my vet! I likely won't get one till Monday though. I'll post further updates when I hear back.
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Post by Heather on Jun 28, 2019 19:25:34 GMT -5
From the look, it appears to be structural rather than neurological. I would be really tempted to try to get some xrays done of the pelvis and hips ciao
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Post by EiraoLaska on Jul 3, 2019 11:39:32 GMT -5
Affliction goes in today for his appointment. Vet watched the video is concerned about insulinoma he'll be getting bloodwork done. We're not entirely sure how old he is but whoever his previous owner was certainly didn't feed him properly. He's always readily taken cheap dog treats and dog food (going off what he ate when our neighbor rescued him and the treats he's accepted at the vet to calm him down). He's eaten nothing but Evo or Wysong for the past 3 years we've had him though.
Will update again when I get results.
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Post by unclejoe on Jul 3, 2019 14:28:01 GMT -5
My experience leans my opinion toward insulinoma, but when mine have had bad cases affecting gait they also quickly lost appetite and weight. Good luck.
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Post by EiraoLaska on Jul 3, 2019 17:16:52 GMT -5
Thanks unclejoe! He's lost his normal amount of weight for summer and is going through a second summer shed. Makes it hard to say if it's seasonal or a health issue. His appetite is just as high as ever! ----
The vet did an ultrasound as Affliction's spleen felt like it had rolled? (not familiar with this) It came back fine though. He got blood drawn and we'll know the results on Friday. After watching the video, and seeing him walk again today at the office, he didn't bring up doing x-rays or anything. In the meantime, until we get the bloodwork results, he gave me Supplical and Affy will get <1cc each day to see if the added carbs helps with his walking.
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Post by Sherry on Jul 4, 2019 7:51:41 GMT -5
I'll be honest. This is what happened with our girl who was diagnosed with insulinoma. And if he DOES have insu(simple in house BG test is all that is needed to diagnose) extra carbs will make it much worse, as it can cause spike/crash with bg. Pred is the usual med given.
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Post by EiraoLaska on Jul 4, 2019 13:35:44 GMT -5
I think the extra carbs was just for today/tomorrow until the blood tests come back. If his walking got better with the supplement, it would be another indicator of insulinoma. So far today, that is exactly what's happened. His limp is gone and he's walking MUCH faster. My understanding was that, the limp meant his BG was low, and a tiny amount of the Supplical would raise it enough to help the hind leg weakness(he's getting 1/5th a CC twice a day). I do not plan to continue using the supplical long-term. Once we get the blood results back he'll go on Pred or whatever medication the vet recommends.
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Post by EiraoLaska on Jul 5, 2019 14:26:55 GMT -5
Unfortunately we did not get the results of his BG today. The lab said they didn't have enough blood for that... He did test high for something that indicates parasites so he'll be getting a dewormer. Everything else was normal. He goes back in for another blood test on the 11th. This time it will be done with the in-home lab. The first sample was sent out to a different lab before as it was cheaper.
So I guess I'll update again at the end of next week. I did confirm with the vet that the supplical is not meant as a treatment option but just to help with his walking for the short-term till we get his results in. I'm going to see how he does without it tomorrow but regardless it has to be stopped by Wednesday.
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Post by EiraoLaska on Jul 11, 2019 18:54:07 GMT -5
Just got back from the vets.
He was diagnosed with insulinoma so he'll be starting prednisone. What's the general opinion here on surgery? My vet said it's not an easy one to fix surgically but I wanted to hear experiences from owners too.
Bonus question since I have nowhere else to ask this. Does anyone have any tips to help be there for my husband as Affy inevitably goes downhill? I feel so clueless when it comes to helping other people deal with losing a pet and losing Affy(hopefully not for another couple years) is going to absolutely break him.
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Post by abbeytheferret6 on Jul 11, 2019 20:09:14 GMT -5
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Post by EiraoLaska on Jul 12, 2019 7:50:34 GMT -5
Thank you.
I wish I knew what his original owners fed him and for how long he was with them. I doubt it was anything good quality given those owners also dumped him in the woods. He was on Evo for a year and has been on Wysong for the past 2 years. I'll have to find out the carb amount for Wysong.
It's rough coming to terms with it. He's such a gentle loving boy I hate to see him be in any pain or discomfort. We'll be keeping him as happy as possible for as long as possible, until he lets us know it's time to say goodbye.
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