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Post by James1 on Aug 4, 2014 8:18:54 GMT -5
Looks like a typical Swimmers kit, only just early stages, so not really that bad. You can start by supp'ing vitamin D & calcium in his diet, that'll address the main issue, plus feeding him a typical balanced raw diet. Fish oil capsule ever second day & either liquid or powdered calcium supp will work. You also need to get him swimming in a bath of very warm water once a day, to get the weight off his legs & still allow him to build muscle mass. He needs two 15 minute sessions to start, then increase to 30 minutes twice a day. You also need to be massaging his back legs & paws, along with stretching them & bending them how a normal ferrets would. 4 sessions daily, of 10-15 minutes each. Swimmers is an INDUCED deformity of the skeleton, it is basically Rickets. It can be due to either lack of Vitamin D or Calcium or both. A very small number of ferrets may have a genetic predisposition towards it, most coming from BEW/DEW/Silver backgrounds, but it is quite correctable prior to 6 months of age, after that chances of correction are pretty minimal. Will definitely be following your advice, and have a lot to talk through with the vet this evening! Are crushed egg shells a suitable source of calcium or would I need a proper supplement? I googled a little about supplements and too much calcium seems just as bad as too little so how much is the perfect amount or is that something I need to consult the vet about? I'm quite scared after doing some reading as I didn't realise how serious it was but I'm also pretty hopeful that we can get him through it thanks to all of your help and advice! |
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Post by Sherry on Aug 4, 2014 8:54:40 GMT -5
Crushed eggshells are pretty much pure calcium, so they should work.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2014 4:07:13 GMT -5
Eggshells are fine. I usually get folks to start with 1/2 teaspoon morning & night, mixed into mince/ground meat, of their calcium supps (which can be eggshells or otherwise) & slowly work up to 2 teaspoons daily over about a week, with 1/4 teaspoon morning & night of a vitamin D supp OR a fish oil capsule every second day. This is maintained until the kits have marked improvement, which it is then reviewed & may be reduced.
I would not panic yourself, you've done nothing wrong & really, it is quite hard to over do it with these guys initially, their bodies are literally starving for bone-building materials that everything is used up. Most people run into troubles when they fail to give a good source of vitamin D or stop supp'ing them at the slightest improvement (thinking they'll continue to come good) or don't do the physical therapy/swimming or a combination. But, you've come to the right place, I'll help you with what I know & have used with success.
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Post by James1 on Aug 5, 2014 5:23:38 GMT -5
Eggshells are fine. I usually get folks to start with 1/2 teaspoon morning & night, mixed into mince/ground meat, of their calcium supps (which can be eggshells or otherwise) & slowly work up to 2 teaspoons daily over about a week, with 1/4 teaspoon morning & night of a vitamin D supp OR a fish oil capsule every second day. This is maintained until the kits have marked improvement, which it is then reviewed & may be reduced. I would not panic yourself, you've done nothing wrong & really, it is quite hard to over do it with these guys initially, their bodies are literally starving for bone-building materials that everything is used up. Most people run into troubles when they fail to give a good source of vitamin D or stop supp'ing them at the slightest improvement (thinking they'll continue to come good) or don't do the physical therapy/swimming or a combination. But, you've come to the right place, I'll help you with what I know & have used with success. Update, so the vet check up went OK, the vet said he seems in good health and his leg muscles still seem quite strong but there was definitely a weakness there, she agreed it was most likely what you guys have been suggesting and seemed happy with the advice I've received here, they took some blood and will send it off to confirm but in the mean time I'm going to follow your advice as it won't hurt in any case. Last night I picked up some fish oil capsules making sure to get the ones with vitamin d and no vitamin a as I read another post on here holisticferret60.proboards.com/thread/1222/vitamins which I found really interesting and vitamin a can be dangerous if too much is given, the fish oil I have also has vitamin b6 which passes in the urine so should be safe, plus it mentions a deficiency in b6 could lead to bone problems too (osteoporosis) so having it included will hopefully be of help. He loves the fish oil, and doesn't seem to mind egg shell on his food so fingers crossed we can get him better. We also attempted a swimming session last night, now this he wasn't so sure about, he's too small for the harness I have so I had to support him with my hand a little, he definitely kicked his legs so got some exercise but he didn't like it at all and I've got scratches all up my arm to prove it lol. Going to persevere with it though and hopefully he will get used to the routine, and he seemed to be a lot calmer for the leg massage after the brief swim. Don't want to push him to much to soon so will build up the swimming times over the week. When you suggested 15 mins per session do you mean constant swimming or in and out just so long as he's getting some exercise? I don't even think I could pale for 15 mins straight lol! Will keep coming back with updates andto get advice as we go along, I really do appreciate you all  |
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Post by Thérèse on Aug 5, 2014 5:45:38 GMT -5
Thanks for the update.
One thing I will point out - Phaedra mentioned very warm water. Ferrets body temps are higher than ours and if it was only lukewarm to you, it probably felt cold to Bean and may have been a factor in his wanting to get out. Just fyi.
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Post by James1 on Aug 5, 2014 5:59:19 GMT -5
Thanks for the update. One thing I will point out - Phaedra mentioned very warm water. Ferrets body temps are higher than ours and if it was only lukewarm to you, it probably felt cold to Bean and may have been a factor in his wanting to get out. Just fyi. Yea i had read that, I tried to make it warm without being too hot as I didn't want to burn him, I'll try a little warmer tonight, I'm sure it was just the shock of having to swim though lol, he's had a few showers , (I know you shouldn't shower often but as he soils himself due to the way he walks/stands I've had to) and he's always seemed content when the water is running over him |
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Post by Thérèse on Aug 5, 2014 6:48:32 GMT -5
With ferrets there is definitely a big difference between having water run on them like a shower or rain and being put in it!
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Post by Sherry on Aug 5, 2014 8:43:24 GMT -5
A good temperature is what would be bath water warm for you. Their body temp is normally about 102 degrees F. so anything much cooler is going to feel cold to him.
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Post by Thérèse on Aug 18, 2014 7:26:47 GMT -5
Just wondering if you're still checking in James, how is Bean doing?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 1, 2014 15:12:53 GMT -5
Just wondering if you're still checking in James, how is Bean doing? Hey sorry I left it so long, I'm happy to say Bean has made a drastic improvement! He's now a little terror like my other 2, running and climbing with no signs of any leg problems! Thank you all for your help and advice, I have to say the swimming didn't last long but as soon as he started running away from the tub I assumed his legs were getting enough exercise. He's now in the cage with the others and they all get on great, I'm so glad he's made a full recovery and can handle their big cage because seeing the big ball of fluff when they all go to bed puts a smile on my face every time. I'm starting to notice some more issues that make it clear he was the runt and was probably malnourished as everyone suspected, the main issue is he's a little bit food aggressive but we're working on it. He yelps and had bitten a couple of times when I try to take things off of him that he shouldn't have, or when I give him a treat and go to pet him. As I said it's a work in progress. Will try to get on here a bit more often, especially as I'd love to feed them a healthy well balanced diet, not to mention every ferret question I have had and googled so far has resulted in me reading a thread here. |
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Post by mjbez on Sept 1, 2014 15:23:08 GMT -5
Aww I'm glad to hear that Bean has improved greatly! Good luck with the food aggression. That is not something I have experienced in ferrets. |
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Post by msav on Sept 1, 2014 16:26:09 GMT -5
I would love to see video of his progress if you could. This is interesting. I wonder If Bleu had this issue as I noticed he walked funny(nowhere near like Bean though) when I first got him, and then the strange limp he developed.
Since Bleu was pretty much instantly on a raw diet as soon as he got him home I am not sure if that helped him or if this has nothing to do with his issue.
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Post by crazylady on Sept 1, 2014 16:38:40 GMT -5
Hi James I noticed your in the uk go to your local pet store and buy some meat and bone meal ( its for pregnant dogs and puppies) it costs around £3.00 for a small tub or 8 pounds for a bucket cover there food in this ( with kits I roll each piece in it like coating fishcakes with breadcrumbs lol ) this way you know for certain every mouthful they are getting calcium if you put in lots and lots of calcium early enough it can help stop the problem in its tracks and the ferret has a good chance of recovering with no problems a lot of people dont realize even when feeding a whole prey diet with young kits from 3 weeks on wards calcium must be given as it takes awhile before a kit is able to crush a bone for itself they become experts at stripping bones of meat but not at eating the actual bone until older so you must give calcium in some form either crushed egg shells or bonemeal good luck with your baby take care bye for now
Bev
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Post by Thérèse on Sept 2, 2014 5:23:24 GMT -5
Glad to hear Bean is doing well and I second the vid request...more just because I like any vids of peoples ferrets
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Post by Sherry on Sept 2, 2014 9:02:14 GMT -5
So glad to hear he is doing better, and it's great to know how often we pop up on google!!!
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