More on Meelo's bionic knee....

Well, as most of you know--Meelo was one of the OH guys that I rehabbed this past October-and I ended up keeping him as one of my own. Since I've had him, he's had a knee injury--he favors his right back leg and can't really bend it. Knowing some of the atrocities that those kids experienced, we could only surmise that it was an injury he had experienced while he was at the "bad place".

The vet and I had spoken about it-- the current "standard" of treating an ACL injury in an animal under 10 lbs is rest. I attempted to "rest him' as best I could (insert incredulous laughter here), but we all know that it is near impossible to rest a ferret for an indeterminate amount of time (they have to come out of the cage eventually and then they would be more maniacal than ever) . So, I left him free range and gave it some time . As as he started to feel better (he had some bad teeth removed and was put on Prednisone for Insulinoma) he's become more active (he's also put on some more muscle mass--he is now almost 4 lbs) and I can see him trying to run around and dance. So, I feel as though his knee is impacting his quality of life. I also fear that with his attempt at more activity and his increased muscle mass--he will blow out the knee completely.

So, I brought it up with the vet once again--asking if she thought there was ANYTHING that we could do--splint, etc--and she seriously recommended surgery. I made an appt for the next week to have him assessed again.

Truth be told, I hadn't much experience with ACL surgeries, other than knowing about other animals had had it done--and what happened after--I didn't know the nitty gritty details.

When we went back, we went through all of my questions, along with her giving me a detailed step by step re: what was entailed in this surgery. As far as either one of us knows, ACL surgery has not been performed on ferrets (or at least, been documented). but, we decided to go ahead and do it.

So, here's the bottom line:

To my knowledge, an ACL surgery has not been done on ferrets, so we don't know how it's going to hold up (CON)

My vet is extremely knowledgable re: ferrets (PRO)

I totally trust my vet--and wouldn't recommend a sugery for the money or excitement of a new surgery unless she truly believed it would be beneficial (PRO)

She is super honest will me and has stated that since it's not been done before, we have no way of knowing how it's going to hold up (PRO--because of the honesty) I actually am not paying for it because it is a teaching case and we have no way of knowing how it will turn out

She has also done tons of ACL surgeries on dogs and cats so is very comfortable with the basic mechanics (PRO)

Although she is comfortable with the mechanics, there are some things that have to be done differently, regarding the size of a ferret (for example: they usually use a special type of fishing line, that has proven itself--with Meelo she will have to use regular sutures and although strong--we are not sure how it will show itself over time regarding stretching, etc) (CON)

Since ACL injuries seem to be diagnosed in ferrets more often recently--this is an amazing opportunity to see if a more effective way of treating is possible (PRO)

Although he is a small animal--for a ferret, he is large, so he is a good candidate to be "first ferret" (PRO) when he had his teeth out, she told me that was the beefiest ferret arm she's ever put a catheter in... LOL

After surgery, he will have to have cage rest--but that is doable, since the only thing we have to be concerned about (re: reinjury) are his sutures--and once the incision starts to heal, then he can move around more.

I requested to observe and she said I could, however, the surgery is going to be so small, I wouldn't be able to see anything. The vet has told me that she is going to document everything--and I am going to keep a log and pictures for documentation also.

Please, keep him in your prayers/thoughts/well wishes. I will keep you all posted.