Post by Fathym on Feb 6, 2013 0:55:31 GMT -5
Merry Meet, Ferret-folk! I've been silently stalking your forums for a few months now. I haven't joined simply because I'm not that good at keeping up my activity level on forums! but now I have a burning concern and don't know who else could possibly help me, so I turn to you~
We added two furbabies to our home back in September (Dexter and Tesla - both males around 9-10 weeks old at the time, so now between 7-8 months old). They've been on raw since then thanks to the mass amount of knowledge accumulated here. I think I waited no more than 3 days after bringing them home to discontinue their Marshall's-puke by switching them almost cold turkey to a new soup of Stella & Chewy's freeze dried (for cats; less veg!) They took to it like fish to water~
Over the last few months they've mostly been getting fresh, raw, hormone-free chicken meat from a local processor with a mix of Vital Essential's brand frozen raw chicken and turkey patties and Stella & Chewy's freeze dried (chicken, duck, turkey.... they'll eat almost anything). I also put a small squirt of Grizzly brand salmon oil in their dish every meal. Occasionally some pumpkin. We haven't been able to get them to eat whole organs yet, unfortunately. Still working on it, though one of the two LOVES chicken necks!
Anyway- my concern is this:
I've been noticing a very strong odor from their cage more recently, I'd say in the last 3-4 weeks. It's been getting stronger and it took me some time to pinpoint it as their urine.
This past week, the smell has been significantly stronger and one of my boys - Dexter, a standard sable - had a very red weewee tonight and it smells like strong body odor. Exactly what I've been smelling in their box. His white brother, Tesla, doesn't seem to share these symptoms. Redness or smell, so I'm convinced it's just Dex.
Now I read on a thread in here about the urine smell of raw-fed ferrets being compared to battery acid, but I must admit I don't know what battery acid smells like so couldn't compare it. It very well could be that and completely normal....
I'm asking you folk before rushing my guy to the vet because I've also read about all the different smells and textures and inconsistencies that feeding raw causes in ferrets (like tarry poops and such) and I'm hoping (before I rush to the vet) that someone on here will say, "Yup! Completely normal!"
I'm also concerned that my vet who is not enthusiastic about me feeding any of my pets raw isn't going to be of any help due to her lack of knowledge. Unless, of course, it's an infection. In which case he may need an anti-biotic?
So what do you think? Could it be an infection? Or a side-effect of the salmon oil or possibly something else in their diet....?
Thanks for your time! You guys are great and I love this forum~!
We added two furbabies to our home back in September (Dexter and Tesla - both males around 9-10 weeks old at the time, so now between 7-8 months old). They've been on raw since then thanks to the mass amount of knowledge accumulated here. I think I waited no more than 3 days after bringing them home to discontinue their Marshall's-puke by switching them almost cold turkey to a new soup of Stella & Chewy's freeze dried (for cats; less veg!) They took to it like fish to water~
Over the last few months they've mostly been getting fresh, raw, hormone-free chicken meat from a local processor with a mix of Vital Essential's brand frozen raw chicken and turkey patties and Stella & Chewy's freeze dried (chicken, duck, turkey.... they'll eat almost anything). I also put a small squirt of Grizzly brand salmon oil in their dish every meal. Occasionally some pumpkin. We haven't been able to get them to eat whole organs yet, unfortunately. Still working on it, though one of the two LOVES chicken necks!
Anyway- my concern is this:
I've been noticing a very strong odor from their cage more recently, I'd say in the last 3-4 weeks. It's been getting stronger and it took me some time to pinpoint it as their urine.
This past week, the smell has been significantly stronger and one of my boys - Dexter, a standard sable - had a very red weewee tonight and it smells like strong body odor. Exactly what I've been smelling in their box. His white brother, Tesla, doesn't seem to share these symptoms. Redness or smell, so I'm convinced it's just Dex.
Now I read on a thread in here about the urine smell of raw-fed ferrets being compared to battery acid, but I must admit I don't know what battery acid smells like so couldn't compare it. It very well could be that and completely normal....
I'm asking you folk before rushing my guy to the vet because I've also read about all the different smells and textures and inconsistencies that feeding raw causes in ferrets (like tarry poops and such) and I'm hoping (before I rush to the vet) that someone on here will say, "Yup! Completely normal!"
I'm also concerned that my vet who is not enthusiastic about me feeding any of my pets raw isn't going to be of any help due to her lack of knowledge. Unless, of course, it's an infection. In which case he may need an anti-biotic?
So what do you think? Could it be an infection? Or a side-effect of the salmon oil or possibly something else in their diet....?
Thanks for your time! You guys are great and I love this forum~!