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Post by mau on Mar 29, 2011 21:32:53 GMT -5
I'm a fairly new ferret owner - I've only had my girl for about 10 days at this point. She was doing fine until yesterday, converted over to a raw diet without any qualms.. but as of yesterday she's been having horrid diarrhea. She's still acting like her normal woozle self, still bright and alert, and still eats/drinks fine. I've changed her water, thinking maybe it was the vitamins in her water had been in too long, and her food has been varied daily [as suggested to get her her full nutrition]. She hasn't gotten into any dairy products or anything dangerous [she's only allowed freedom in the living and dining room].
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Post by taratee on Mar 29, 2011 21:34:48 GMT -5
theres a good chance the rapid diet change is giving her the diarrhea my girl switched off kibble to raw in one day and its been about a week and her poops are starting to solid up just now. you could give her soup with a little extra eggshell in it if youd like to see them solidify sooner
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Post by mau on Mar 29, 2011 21:40:40 GMT -5
I hope that's all that it is.. I don't want anything to happen to her [and it stinks.. badly].
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Post by taratee on Mar 29, 2011 21:59:23 GMT -5
it might stink because shes getting all the kibble crapola out of her system like i said if you want to tighten her stools up add more bone i think pumpkin will help as well someone else will come in and confirm or deny
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Post by miamiferret2 on Mar 29, 2011 22:00:43 GMT -5
when you first switch to raw (at least for me) the poop stinks more. don't know why that is. at first i thought it was that i was giving too much liver. but that was not it. i don't know its weird. its almost like they are detoxing? you will have looser stools with raw. don't expect it to look like kibble poop.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2011 23:13:11 GMT -5
Also, have you been adding any pumpkin or eggshell to the raw? Without those, you would have watery stools
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Post by Sherry on Mar 29, 2011 23:25:00 GMT -5
You say she's taken well to raw. What exactly is she eating now?
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Post by mau on Mar 30, 2011 9:09:25 GMT -5
You say she's taken well to raw. What exactly is she eating now? My current stock of meats for her: chicken [whole, cut up, bone-in], pork neckbones [she can't eat the bone in these, and she doesn't seem fond of pork meat ], cornish hen [halved], duck wing, chicken hearts [she loves these], beef and pork liver, and pork kidney. I have some fresh anchovies too, but she doesn't eat those. My cats will enjoy them though. That was all the variety I could find at my local asian market - I have seen turkey necks at Walmart and thought about getting those, too. I do have some canned pumpkin for her too - I'll have to give her some of that this morning.
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Post by mau on Mar 30, 2011 9:12:32 GMT -5
Oh yeah, I've also given her 1 normal egg [about a week ago], and quail eggs [one at at time, the last 3 days ago]. Any suggestions for grinding up the shells? I tried, but it all sank to the bottom so I'm not sure she's gotten any.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 30, 2011 9:17:40 GMT -5
So what does her diet consist of? Soup, mush? What protein?
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Post by Sherry on Mar 30, 2011 9:29:31 GMT -5
And of those proteins, how much of the actual bone is she consuming? Like, is she eating an entire chicken wing, or an entire chicken neck? Ferrets have very high calcium needs. Mine also won't/can't eat more than the wing tip on the duck wings. Nor will they eat much of the weight bearing bones with chicken(drum/thigh), or cgh. As for eggshells, rinse and dry very well, then you can either use a mortar and pestle to grind them to a powder, or do what I do- use a coffee grinder Mix 1/2 tsp per 8 oz of meat for soupies. Also- how much organ meat is she getting? Liver and kidney I mean. She should be getting 8-9 meals of edible bone a week, and only 1 meal a week of the liver/kidney.
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Post by mau on Mar 30, 2011 16:56:52 GMT -5
And of those proteins, how much of the actual bone is she consuming? Like, is she eating an entire chicken wing, or an entire chicken neck? Ferrets have very high calcium needs. Mine also won't/can't eat more than the wing tip on the duck wings. Nor will they eat much of the weight bearing bones with chicken(drum/thigh), or cgh. As for eggshells, rinse and dry very well, then you can either use a mortar and pestle to grind them to a powder, or do what I do- use a coffee grinder Mix 1/2 tsp per 8 oz of meat for soupies. Also- how much organ meat is she getting? Liver and kidney I mean. She should be getting 8-9 meals of edible bone a week, and only 1 meal a week of the liver/kidney. On the cornish hen, she ate all but the drumstick [it was a full half of a hen]. That's the only meat where she's eaten the bones as well, though. Should I sprinkle her food with eggshells for extra calcium until she starts eating more of the bones?
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Post by taratee on Mar 30, 2011 19:00:41 GMT -5
what you could do is smash the bones with a hammer and pulverize it so she really has no choice to eat the bone. if your egg shell is sinking to the bottom of the soup you could make the soup thicker and add it last so youre more folding it in
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Post by mau on Mar 30, 2011 19:58:37 GMT -5
Thank you guys for the tips - her poop seems to be firming up a bit more finally. It's still a bit loose but it's not nearly as bad as it was. I was really worried it was something very serious (especially after googling it.. ).
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Post by Sherry on Mar 30, 2011 20:03:44 GMT -5
To be honest, I think she's just not getting enough calcium to firm up her poops. Yes, by all means give her some eggshell til she's capable of chowing down on all the bone. 1/2 tsp per 8 oz of meat. You can also give 1/2 tsp daily of pure pumpkin for the fiber.
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