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Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2012 23:55:42 GMT -5
Actually, just heard from Sherry that colloidal silver works great for minor injuries. Just a spray a couple times a day on the cut should do the trick
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2012 17:36:40 GMT -5
Great - Thanks!
Actually we are now thinking that maybe Zeus did this to himself. We noticed that he has several other very small scabs up higher on the back of his neck. The past few days he has been VERY itchy so maybe this scabbing is caused by him itching. We trimmed his nails so he doesn't hurt himself anymore. We have made a vet appointment for him but the vet can't see him until monday. I feel so bad for him. He has really light hair so it would be easy to see if he has fleas but I am not seeing any. I read this on a website about possible reasons for itchyness in ferrets:
"Ferrets on poor diets too low in animal fats will have dry, lusterless coats and itchy skin. Improving the diet will solve the problem. Giving a linoleic acid supplement daily for a week while the diet is being changed will return the skin to health more rapidly. "
Do you think this may be the problem? I dont think has been getting much fat.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2012 0:22:21 GMT -5
I agree with the advice others have given on the health thread you made. Most likely just shedding season. You definitely want to add a fish oil into their diet to help with this. The olive oil helps a bit but they can actually metabolize the fish oil (being from an animal protein). You can get pure salmon oil at a health food store or a pet health food store. Just make sure it says stuff about being pure and clean and things like that since there can be issues with mercury and contaminants and what not. Grizzly salmon oil is a good pet brand. You want to give probably 1/2 tsp per ferret 2-3 times a week (just replace the olive oil with it for those days). Any more than that seems to cause runny stool and stinky ferrets. Giving a plain water bath will help remove some of the excess shedding fur and help with the process a bit too. If the itching persists for a long time or you see other signs of adrenal disease (aggressive sexual behavior like mounting, problems with urination, etc.) then he should be checked out. But right now I wouldn't worry too much as long as he's not getting the cut infected. You're including the chicken fat in the soup right? If so, he should be getting a good fat source from that
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2012 8:26:16 GMT -5
Alright thanks Steph
We did give them a bath about 3 weeks ago and I know that can dry their skin out if we give too many so maybe we should wait a while to do that. All the health food stores around here are closed Sunday but I will see if any pet stores have it.
I am including any chicken fat into the soup but it doesn't seem like the chicken has much fat on it.
How long will it take the fish oil to help?
Thanks, Breanne
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2012 8:43:31 GMT -5
Name: Zeus What they've been eating and how much per day:About half cup of soup with lots of chicken, liver, and heart chunks Activity level: Very active when we play with him. Last night he was up for about an hour just wandering around and entertaining himself, which is rare for Zeus (Cyrus does that all the time) Stool shape and consistency: kinda runny, very dark Weight: .86 kg Name: Cyrus What they've been eating and how much per day: About half cup of soup with lots of chicken, liver, and heart chunks Activity level:Very active Stool shape and consistency: kinda runny, very dark Weight: .73 kg Picture of their meat chunks: Maybe it would have been better to include a ruler in the picture so you can tell exactly how big they are. The biggest chunks are about 1.25 centimeters long. Thanks Breanne
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2012 10:50:02 GMT -5
Hey Steph,
Just got back from a pet store near us. The Salmon oil that they had is called "Wild Alaskan Salmon Oil for Cats" The bottle says that it promotes healthy skin and glossy coats with natural omega 3 fatty acids. It says on the bottle "Salmon flavoured liquid" but on the back description it says "Nutri-vet wild Alaskan salmon oil for cats provides levels of healthy omega 3 and 6 fatty acids not commonly found in pet foods. This PURE oil is made only from wild, non-farmed Alaskan salmon and stabilized with natural antioxidants to maintain its fatty acid content and taste. Nutri-vet's salmon oil provides a daily supplement rich in EPA and DHA that help maintain healthy sin and coat conditions and support the immune system."
So does this product sound like it will be ok for the ferrets? If not, they said I can return it and then I will look somewhere else.
Also, since the itching is probably just shedding, do you think it is alright to cancel our vet appointment and see if the fish oil works?
Thanks!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2012 18:01:20 GMT -5
Thanks for the weekly reports. Those chunks are a good size and shape but see if you can increase the size a couple of millimeters every 2-3 days That salmon oil looks good to me You can try giving it every second day (1/2 tsp per ferret) but if it makes their stools off / them smelly then I would decrease it to only 2 days a week. Water baths are actually fine. It's the shampoo's that strip their coats of the oils. So it's safe to give water baths when they are shedding. Shampoo baths should be reserved for 1-2 times a year. The vet appt is your call. I don't expect your vet is going to offer much insight, especially if they aren't really a ferret vet. but its totally your call. You could always give the oil and water bath (brushing might help too if he will let you) a week or two to kick in and go from there. If you want a good fat source, we can try them on a little bit of pork now that are eating some chunks. If you can find something called "pork side slices" or "pork belly slices", they basically look like raw bacon Slices (but are in the meat aisle and don't contain any of the salts/spices/smoke that the bacon does). They are very fatty. You may take a few stores to find them though. Other pork doesn't have quite the same fat that they seem to.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2012 18:03:06 GMT -5
Also - you mentioned the stool was runny and dark.
What exactly do you mean by runny? Like liquid? Could you maybe post a pic for me of what their normal stool looks like (as gross as that is)?
How dark is dark too? If its too dark (like black almost) its possible they are getting a bit too much liver.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2012 22:26:53 GMT -5
I will look for the pork whenever I am in a grocery store. The directions for the salmon oil say to give 1/2 tsp per 10 pounds of body weight of the cat. I just want to make sure that we aren't giving too much since the ferrets are no where near 10 pounds! Is it safe to be giving 1/2 tsp to each ferret still? Sorry, I just don't want to hurt them!! Yes the poop is almost black it seems, at least it was a few times from each of them this week. A few times I had to take a second look because I was thinking I might see a little bit of red tint, but I don't think I was. I will post pics of the poop (yay!) as soon as I see them going Have a good night, Breanne
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Post by Deleted on Sept 23, 2012 22:33:50 GMT -5
If those are the directions, you can probably get away with 1/4 tsp per ferret per day to start. 1/2 tsp of oil per ferret per day is just the maximum for any kind of oil but it depends on the ferret and how they tolerate it. If they get icky poops, just give a bit less.
How much liver are they getting? I know you said you were adding some liver pieces in the soup. Either stop adding those or reduce the amount of liver going into the soup. Hearts can also cause the dark, slimy stools so if you are giving too many of those in the soup you might wanna cut back a touch.
That should improve the stool a bit.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 24, 2012 6:48:02 GMT -5
Hi Steph,
I have been putting approximately 2 oz of liver in. This includes everything in the soup and the small pieces that I add to the soup.
I will start reducing the amount in their food.
Thanks, Breanne
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2012 0:37:18 GMT -5
Hmm in theory that shouldn't be too much liver as the recipe calls for 1 chicken liver or 2oz other liver. Though in my experience 1 chicken liver usually weighs less than 2oz, so I'd just try adding one chicken liver in and see how that goes instead of weighing the 2oz. Also if you aren't adding quite enough meat ( the full 8oz ) to a batch this could attribute to them getting too much liver as well since the soup is balanced.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2012 6:41:18 GMT -5
Hi Steph, Maybe the previous batch I made didn't have quite enough meat in it or something, because the poop is back to normal colour again. As for meat, I usually just add one whole chicken breast. I am going to make new soup tonight so I will be increasing the size again. The ferrets don't seem to be having any trouble with the chunks that I showed you - they eat them all up. I will take a picture of the new chunks tonight & post (with a ruler). Thanks, Breanne
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2012 15:03:16 GMT -5
Awesome, glad to hear they are back to normal Perfect, I'll await the pictures! ;D
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Post by Deleted on Sept 25, 2012 23:03:39 GMT -5
Here's their new bigger pieces! Actually I think I was wrong about how big the pieces were last time. I think they were about 3 cm. Now a bit bigger mostly. I ended up putting all the liver, hearts and giblets as chunks in the soup. Usually I combine some of it into the soup, but this time the soup is just chicken, egg shells and water. They are eating the bigger chunks until the soup is gone. They only leave a few pieces. Thanks Breanne
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