I had to RUSH MAYHEM to the VET!:[

[Deleted]

I came home and there was blood all over the cage and the water bowl was full of blood. I checked everyone and nothing. I left the room to dump the bloody water and filled it with some new fresh water. I went downstairs to grab dinner for them and came upstairs five minutes later and the bowl was full of blood again and MAYHEM was spitting blood everywhere and his paws were covered in blood. 

I couldnt breathe for about 25 minutes that it took me to grab him stick him in the carrier. Then grab the bowl of water run to the bathroom dump it and fill it again and then I ran out of my house the a crazy person sobbing and speeding and yelling at the red lights. I called my vet on the way there and they were ready for him as soon as I got there.


All the positive energy was on my side today because the vet came in and told me that he had a peice of bone (from the chicken wing that he had stashed that I didnt even notice) stuck in his gum and that they removed it.

The vet knows me very well by now because of sid and his lymphoma. She only charged me the vet visit and I was so thankful.

I am traumatized. Im so scared of giving them chicken now. Or any kind of bone.

Has this happened to anyone?

I have the peice of chicken bone still. I kept it. It looks like it cracked and splintered.

The vet told me I was lucky that it got stuck in his mouth and that he didnt swallow it and get it stuck in his essophagus. AND THEN she shunned me for raw feeding. She told me that theyre my pets but she doesnt advise it.


I WANT WHATS BEST FOR THEM.

Im so stressed and worried and all kinds of other emotions.

Is there anyway I can raw feed without bone and provide that missing bone with a supplement? Eggshell?

HELP.

[bitbyter]

It happens. Usually without bleeding, but bones getting stuck in their teeth is not all the unusual. Is he new to raw? Usually once is enough teach them to be cautious. It happened to my Wilma once early in the switch but it hasn't happened since (going on 4 years now).

[racheld]

That sounds terrible, I would have been terrified!
If you don't want to feed whole bones any more, you could look at 'whole grinds' which are ground whole prey (sometimes skinned, sometimes including fur) so they're already balanced. But then you lose the tooth cleaning benefits of bone.
You could also add bone meal to meals instead of feeding whole bones, but I'm not sure if ferrets would eat it if it's just sprinkled on pieces.
I'm so glad Mayhem is okay. <3

[Deleted]

Theyre on their 3rd week now of eating raw. There was so much blood my heart stopped.

The peice of bone is probably an inch long maybe a little bigger.

I called my boss and told her about it and she said i should clean the bone and make a necklace... -___-

The vet said his mouth will be sore and to give him wet kibble or duck soup but when I stuck the gizzards in there for razi and murphy he went after them. Im not going to deny him his gizzards

SHould I have not let him eat them?:/

[Deleted]

I'm so glad he is ok. It is unfortunately one of those things. When you first start feeding a child whole foods like green beans you run the risk of them chocking too.

Pepe got a chicken neck piece stuck on his back jaw tooth once. When I caught it he was digging at his mouth freaking out. Luckily he hadn't made himself bleed yet, but it was scary. We had to have two to hold him down and carefully (for me and him) get his jaw open and pop that bone off. His gums were a bit bloody from the ordeal but he was okay.

[Deleted]

How long has he been on raw? Sometimes theres a learning curve for ferrets who are new to bone. They may try and eat it too fast or swallow something they can't handle because they don't know how best to eat yet. He could have gotten a little too overzealous about this chicken and gotten a piece stuck in his gums. I wouldn't really consider eggshell a longterm solution (ferts need ALOT of calcium) especially since he's got nice healthy teeth. Maybe you could chop his bony meals up for him for a little while?
I'm really glad he's okay and I'm so sorry you had to have such a scary experience

[Deleted]

Haha oops I took too long to respond

[Deleted]

Was it a bone u crushed? I crush mine and they R Splintery ----scares me

[Deleted]

where can you find whole grinds?

[bitbyter]

Yep, let him eat. Maybe stay away from bone in meats for a few days but I'd go right back to it. He'll have learned and approach things differently from this point forward.

[msav]

I have not had anything like that happen, although I have had to dislodge kibble from my ferrets mouth several times when they were eating kibble.

accidents happen.

[Deleted]

Thanks everyone. Im so happy it was just that. Ive been having such bad luck I thought something was going wrong internally and that he was going to die on me.

I always think of the worst possible situations

abbeytheferret6 : I didnt crush them:/ I just cut them as small as i can. I went and bought a ton of game hen so they wont really be getting bone in chicken anymore.

does game hen bone splinter also?

bella : How do i chop up bone?My cleaver is new and it already sucks lol :face:

[Deleted]

bitbyter I just bought turkey necks, chicken backs, and game hen today on top of pork brains and gizzards.

Is there a trick to making the bones safer?

[racheld]

Whole grinds are mostly available through sites like Hare Today or My Pet Carnivore.
I hope you don't give up feeding whole pieces forever! The bone is so good for cleaning their teeth. But what a terrible introduction to feeding pieces--maybe do grinds until you feel more comfortable with introducing bones again.

[Deleted]

I would get a knife sharpener! After your cleaver is nice and sharp it should be able to easily cut through a chicken wing. You just have to hit it hard, but watch your fingers! I almost took my finger tip off a while back :/ glad my nails are thick!