New Ferret; Weird Poop

[Deleted]

So, the ferret math epidemic hit me. Just last Saturday (9/6) I got a second ferret. He's four months old and I named him Mulder (yes, like the X-Files) but I mostly call him Spooky as a nickname. He's all white with a black stripe running down his back to his black tail, with a white tip. I will post pictures of him as soon as I can!

Anyway, the day that I got him I started the raw diet immediately. I made him the soup and he ate it all VERY eagerly! A few days later, he ended up sneaking into Raz's feeding den and stealing a bone-in piece, and he devoured that as well. So, in less than a week, he has already become pretty much completely converted to the raw diet. 

The problem is, he's been having a lot of various strange poops. Some have been green, some have been totally white, some yellow, but most have been very watery. Every once in a while he has a normal looking poop, but then a few hours later there's a new weird one in his litter box (and I know it's not Raz because they're living in seperate cages at the moment). 
I know that Raz had diarrhea at first when I switched her to raw, but I'd never seen white poop before. I would guess that it's mucus? The entire poop was white and it appeared very slimy, and smelled positively fowl.  

He's also came rather thin - I can feel all his ribs and his hip bones. You can't see this by looking at him because he's rather fluffy, but you can definitely feel it. However, he has been eating ravenously every day since he came home, practically eating three raw meals every day. And he's been drinking plenty of water as well.

He has no signs of illness besides the diarrhea and bony-ness. His eyes are bright, his gums and teeth look great, no mucus coming out of his eyes or nose. He's eating plenty, drinking plenty, playing and dooking about so much that he's a bit of a nuisance. He seems to get enough sleep, as well. 

But anyway, should I be worried at all? Is diarrhea this strange a common side effect of a quick switch to raw? Is his thin-ness caused by malnutrition (I did get him at a pet store..), or is he seriously ill? 

Thanks!

[Deleted]

Congratulations on Mulder (dance)

Have you weighed him? If you will post a picture of him Dangling. Hold him carefully under his arms and let him dangle. We will look for a "waistline". A normal weight ferret will be straight up and down, without a waistline. You should be able to feel his ribs, but not see them.

Switching to raw can cause all kinds of different poops. Green can be stress. Did you give Mulder any egg? That can make for smelly, mucus like poos.
Can you give us an idea of what he has eaten since last Saturday?

He does sound like he's hungry. How much does he eat at a meal. The average boy eats about 4oz a day, some a little more and some a little less. I'd give him as much as he can eat. You will know that he's full, if he leaves some behind in his plate or tries to stash food.

How are he and his new friend getting along? Are they having fun playing together or just getting use to each other?

[Deleted]

Looooooove the name and the nickname. (dance)

My boy Loki just turned 5 months and when I first started the transition he was eating up to 8ozs a day, so don't be surprised by the amount. As others on the board will say, they really are 'tummy's with teeth' at that age.

I can't wait to see pictures when you can and like poncesmom said, strange looking poop is normal. The egg can make his poop yellow from the yolk too.

Also are you giving them crushed eggshell when they are not getting bones? That could cause loose stools too. (Not having bone or eggshell that is.)

[Deleted]

You might wanna grab Now Foods Bonemeal comes in powder, to have if you run out of eggshell. Serves the same purpose. Use about 1-2 tsp of eggshell per chicken thigh. He will have strange poo but it will be firm.

[Deleted]

@poncesmom
His certificate that he came with from the pet store said he is two pounds, but I'm not sure how accurate that is. I'm still trying to get my hands on my own scale, but in the meantime his vet appointment will be sometime this week/weekend so we'll get an accurate weight then! As for the waistline thing, he does have a bit of a bulge after he's eaten a big meal, but otherwise he looks pretty streamline. I'll post a picture of this as soon as I can.
I gave him an egg on Monday, but the mucusy poo didn't come until today (Thursday), so I don't know if that's the cause. Over the last week he's been getting chicken wings, turkey necks, chicken breast, and the soup (which is hardly a soup and more like paste). Do you think that the white poop could have been fat? He'd had a somewhat fatty breast piece the night before. And as for the stress, he was having green poop the two days home, so I guess that could have been the stress of the move and his new surroundings.
Again, I'm haven't gotten my hands on a scale so I don't know exactly how much he's eating, and I'm bad at estimating. I would guess that he could eat an entire chicken wing, but that's not very precise. As soon as I get my scale I'll let you know for certain all he's getting, but as of now he just seems like a bottomless pit; eating all his food, plus Raz's leftovers and then still wanting more.
And as for getting along, they're doing great so far! There was some pipecleaner tail from Raz along with some hisses at first, and they had their initial scuffle. Raz tries to ignore him most of the time and she acts all grumpy when he's around, but today I found them cuddling together behind my bed after playtime. I think they're gonna be best buds in no time

@dani
Yeah he definitely seems like a 'tummy with teeth!' He never seems to get full
I'm glad to hear that his weird poos are common! It's extra stressful when he's brand new and I don't know his normal behaviors and bodily functions yet.
Yeah, I've got the schedule worked out now so that they both get 9 meals of bones, and then I add a little bit of eggshell to the soup, but maybe I should start adding more. It's just a sprinkle at the moment. Is it possible to give them too much calcium?

sophia
Thank you, I'll look into that! I've got chickens, so I don't think I'll run out of eggshell anytime soon, but maybe I'll pick some of that up just in case!

Thanks everyone for your help!

[gfountain]

4 months old and new to raw = bottomless pit.. nothing out of the ordinary there

[unclejoe]

This is just a wild guess, and I know you just got him, but I had a similar situation with my first ferret. I had two sons who were into paintball. Bella would stash paintballs and must have ingested some of the paint in the process, because her poops went from white to yellow to green.  I was scratching my head for a week till I caught her with one.  No worries, they are non-toxic.

[Deleted]

You might wanna forget about chicken brest and get thighs instead cuz they contain the most taurine which is important in a ferrets diet. DOn't forget bout chicken livers,gizzards,and hearts.

[Sherry]

First- congrats Second- vetting a new ferret is essential to rule out issues.
His stools COULD be from switching, from a chicken sensitivity- or he could have a bacterial infection triggered by stress.
From the fact you commented on how foul the smell is I am leaning toward the last one. He may need a round of antibiotics to beat it.
In the interim get some probiotics, kefir, or even plain full fat Balkan yogurt and give him a tsp of the last two daily or a half capsule of the former daily for a week.

[Heather]

I agree with Sherry. One thing I do remember about switching "other people's ferrets" was that you're never totally aware as to how and what they were fed. Their poor kibble diet to a good rich, fluid heavy diet can give you a multitude of ferret stools, in varying colours and textures. His body had no idea what to do with all this readily available protein, he's eating like it's all going to end tomorrow and his body's trying to make up for the lost nutrients. The problem is his body has no idea what to do with all these wonderful nutrients....a lot of it is going to come out in his stools. Poor absorption of nutrients is a common problem with newly switched ferrets. Their bodies also have no idea on what to do with all that readily available liquid either...it all has to go somewhere while they get used to actually using it.
ciao

[Deleted]

Sherry and Heather gave you good advice. They are very experienced and won't lead you wrong.

As for the egg, a ferret's digestive track is fast. What they eat, is eliminated within 3 or 4 hours. So, it wasn't egg.

Undigested fats make for "seedy" looking poops.

The rule for eggshell powder is 1/2 tsp per 8oz of chicken thigh. The more eggshell, the firmer the poos. So, don't overdo it or the Mulder will have very firm Poops. Just stick with the recipe amount.

Mulder and Razz sound like they will be good friends. Happy Intros, you just have to love them.
Let us know what the vet says and Have fun with your new little ones.
(dance)

[Deleted]

Update:
I was able to schedule a vet appointment for Spooky next Saturday (9/20) so we're looking forward to that. His poops appear to be better; they're still rather watery but I haven't seen too many unique colors lately, and they don't smell as bad. I added more bone to his diet - before he was getting 7 meals of bone a week and now he's getting 9 - so I think that's helping. I'm still making sure he gets enough heart and organs as well, though!
Also, I finally got a scale I tried weighing Spooky and the scale said 1.5 pounds, but that may be a little off because he was moving around so much. I actually had to put him in a small closed box to get him to stay in one place long enough (giggle)
I also started weighing the food I give them, and it seems that Spooky eats about 5 oz a day - at least today he did. On a side note, Raz eats about 2.5 oz a day, which is a relief because it seems like so little but is apparently average for female ferrets.

Raz and Spooky are both living in the same cage now, and they cuddle together all the time At least, they cuddle when Spooky isn't trying to attack Raz while she's sleeping.

Thank you, everyone, for all your help! I really appreciate all the support on this forum.

P.S. unclejoe Wow that's such a crazy story! I'm so glad your ferrets were ok! I'm an artist, and I'm very careful about keeping my paints and supplies very far away from my fuzzies. If they got into that stuff, I wouldn't be as lucky as you.
Paintballs: ok | Acrylic and Oil paints: Very very bad