We recently homed two adorable little Jills. At 10 weeks old their funny little individual characters are starting to shine through and they are adored to pieces.
They live most of the day and night in a large outdoor hutch, but they come inside for few hours play time when we get home from work. We have spoilt them with all kinds of toys and hidey holes, but their most fun game is still to scramble up the sofa to a height of about a foot and a half and pounce off onto anything passing by underneath, be that each other or our feet.
This was all fun and games but last night one of them did quite a spectacular leap and landed with a thud. I immediately scooped her up and she wimpered as I cuddled her and calmed her down. She didn't squirm or resist the cuddle at all which is unusual during play-frenzy hour, so I realised then she must have given herself a shock. Eventually she settled down and dosed off until her sister scrambled up to rouse her. So I plopped her back down on the floor and that's when I saw that she was trailing her right rear leg out behind her.
I confined her to her carrier and kept her in our room over night. This morning her leg was still limp. It was still warm (but not hot) and not swollen, both which I took to be good signs it wasn't broken. I suspected a dislocation. I took her along to the vets this morning and indeed the vet confirmed she thought it was likely a dislocation too.
So our little ferret is booked in for an x-ray this afternoon, to be immediately followed by relocation surgery should the xray show that the hip is dislocated. All in all this is going to cost us around £500.
We have learnt a good lesson that ferrets aren't as rubber-like as they might appear and at the risk of being a spoil sport, it is sometimes best to curb their frenzied play.
*UPDATE* The x-rays have come back and it is in fact a broken femur! The surgery is a little more complicated than for a dislocation and due to her being so young and still growing the vet has warned complications may include deformity, but this is still preferable to an amputation. The hardest part is the 4-6 week recovery time during which she is not to get involved in any rough play! Looks like we will have to split her and her sister up. I am a bit concerned about how this might affect her nature and personality as at this age she should be getting her nose into everything, learning, playing and being trained - instead she's going to be cooped up and restricted :-(
They live most of the day and night in a large outdoor hutch, but they come inside for few hours play time when we get home from work. We have spoilt them with all kinds of toys and hidey holes, but their most fun game is still to scramble up the sofa to a height of about a foot and a half and pounce off onto anything passing by underneath, be that each other or our feet.
This was all fun and games but last night one of them did quite a spectacular leap and landed with a thud. I immediately scooped her up and she wimpered as I cuddled her and calmed her down. She didn't squirm or resist the cuddle at all which is unusual during play-frenzy hour, so I realised then she must have given herself a shock. Eventually she settled down and dosed off until her sister scrambled up to rouse her. So I plopped her back down on the floor and that's when I saw that she was trailing her right rear leg out behind her.
I confined her to her carrier and kept her in our room over night. This morning her leg was still limp. It was still warm (but not hot) and not swollen, both which I took to be good signs it wasn't broken. I suspected a dislocation. I took her along to the vets this morning and indeed the vet confirmed she thought it was likely a dislocation too.
So our little ferret is booked in for an x-ray this afternoon, to be immediately followed by relocation surgery should the xray show that the hip is dislocated. All in all this is going to cost us around £500.
We have learnt a good lesson that ferrets aren't as rubber-like as they might appear and at the risk of being a spoil sport, it is sometimes best to curb their frenzied play.
*UPDATE* The x-rays have come back and it is in fact a broken femur! The surgery is a little more complicated than for a dislocation and due to her being so young and still growing the vet has warned complications may include deformity, but this is still preferable to an amputation. The hardest part is the 4-6 week recovery time during which she is not to get involved in any rough play! Looks like we will have to split her and her sister up. I am a bit concerned about how this might affect her nature and personality as at this age she should be getting her nose into everything, learning, playing and being trained - instead she's going to be cooped up and restricted :-(
