For those of you who have dealt with blockages...

[Deleted]

I'm just wondering how you knew there was a blockage? Did you witness them eating something they shouldn't have or found something chewed up or missing? Or did you have no idea they had ingested anything and they started showing symptoms?

I only ask because I am currently missing a hot pink hair elastic.

I'm really not worried that the ferrets ate it because they were only out for 10 minutes this morning before I realized it was missing and I had done a very thorough room safety check before letting them out (and it's hot pink so I would've seen it) and I checked on them a couple times during that 10 minutes and they were just wrestling the whole time.

Plus I'm like 99% sure I lost it somewhere when I was out shopping yesterday as I don't remember having it when I went to bed last night (and if I do ever lose hair elastics when I'm sleeping, my bed is huge so they are always on the bed and I ripped the bed apart and couldn't find it anywhere). I've torn the house apart anyways because finding it would make me feel so much better (I've also got two cats and a small dog who would possibly try to eat it).

But because it got me panicked and worried about them eating things that I don't know are missing, I am wondering what are the major warning signs your ferrets showed of a blockage?

I gave my cats and dog some tonic-lax just in case one of them ate it, but it's fairly thick rubber covered in colourful fabric so I'm sure I would have found it chewed up because I highly doubt the cats or dog could swallow it whole, nevermind the ferrets, and I've found no chewed pieces anywhere.

I might up the ferrets' pumpkin daily quantity on the very very small chance that someone got it, but should I give vaseline or tonic lax just in case? I don't want to cause absorption problems when I really don't think they ate it. How much should I give? For how long?

This is what the tonic lax contains: www.drugs.com/vet/tonic-lax-can.html Is that safe to use in emergencies or should I stick to petroleum jelly and pumpkin (for future reference too).

What kind of warning signs should I watch for over the next few days? And how long until I am in the clear?

I really wish I could just find the darn thing so that I can relax, but like I said I'm pretty sure I lost it outside somewhere so I'm not going to get that reassurance. so best to cover my bases!

[Deleted]

Let's see. I was putting Pixie and Trix away when Pix started to cough and she vomitted up a small piece of foam. I freaked out and went back to look for what she had gotten into. Couldn't find it. It was evening and I didn't know how much she ate or if shed pass it. After a couple hours she went downhill fast. Complete lethargy, pawing at mouth, grinding teeth horribly, no stool. She refused food, wouldn't drink. So those were the signs that she needed to go to the ER. She got fluids and pain meds there, but they wanted an astonishing amount of money (in the thousands) and would not work out a payment plan or anything. So we took her home and prayed she would make it until the reg. Vet could see her and do surgery. She finally did pass it, and x ray the next AM showed no signs of anything left, so she didn't need any surgery.

So the biggest signs for me were refusing to eat and drink, very lethargic, then pawing at the mouth and grinding teeth.

[Deleted]

Thanks Jackie! I will definitely be keeping an eye out for all of those things. I'm so glad that Pixie didnt need surgery, that sounds so terrifying!

I hate losing hair elastics so much with the cats and now with the ferrets it's so much worse! I switched over to a kind that doesn't fall out of my hair but for some reason I just had to wear that pink one yesterday, grrr!

[Deleted]

It varies from ferret to ferret. I've only dealt with two blockages before, both in the same ferret. The first time around, over the course of a day and a half he stopped eating and threw up. He acted sleepy and wasn't his normal playful self. So we took him to the vet and they did an x-ray, saw the blockage. Tried giving him a laxative but to no avail. Next step was immediate surgery. They pulled out a nearly intact foam earplug. He recovered well.

About a year later, I thought I was really good about keeping my earplugs out of reach. Hubby thought he'd have learned they are not good to eat, but I knew better. Well, he ended up getting into the trash without us seeing him do it. I do not know how long he was blocked. He never slowed down or acted different. He just started throwing up bright green goo one night. Took him to the vet first thing the next morning, did the x-ray, saw something, skipped the laxative and went straight for the surgery. Pulled out an entire earplug. He made it home, was very tired. I syringe fed him water and a/d (canned food mush) and gave him his meds.

He died that night in my arms. From hemorrhage. It was too late to save him.

I don't want to make you panic. I've had lots of issues with lost items or ferrets throwing up but nothing came from it. But since then whenever a ferret throws up, I have a panic attack. I will always blame myself for my little one's death. It can happen so, so fast. Ferrets will get into the craziest places and chew the craziest things... you just have to keep a sharp eye that things are flowing well. Watch poops. You can always give laxative and see if it works its way out, but something like foam will never come out if its in one huge chunk.

[Deleted]

Thank you for sharing your experiences oskimosa, I am so sorry about your ferret

Thank you guys for sharing your experiences with me, they sound so scary and awful and I hate to bring up bad memories, I just want to be prepared for any scary situations myself.

[Deleted]

I highly recommend always having canned pumpkin, a good lax, and/or some plain vaseline. These guys usually go down when all the vets are closed, and that makes it 100 times worse. Check their toys daily for tears, rips, etc. I've found vacuuming daily helps to make sure nothing was dropped by humans, and that they haven't found anything they shouldn't have.

[Deleted]

Thanks Jackie. I'm going to give some tonic lax and olive oil and pumpkin on the very tiny chance they did somehow get the hair elastic because I'm starting to freak myself out a little bit, and keep a super close eye on them for the next couple days, or until I find the hair elastic somewhere else or in one of the other animal's poops.

[Deleted]

Nevermind, I found the hair elastic!

It was in my kitchen pantry, of all places

I had just given the girls some extra pumpkin, olive oil and a bit of tonic lax each (it has petroleum, mineral oil and lots of sugar so I definitely won't be using it regularily!).

But I figure that's not such a bad thing anyways because they have both been making hairball hacking noises lately despite getting pumpkin every day and olive oil every second day, so it probably won't hurt for their systems to be cleaned out.

[Deleted]

When Tadakichi had his blockage, the first thing I noticed was him really straining to poop and just squirting a little liquid out, nothing solid and even more liquid than diarrhea. He also pawed at his face a lot and acted hungry but wouldn't actually eat, like he'd go to the food dish, lick a piece of meat, rub his face on the floor like he had tooth pain, then go sleep under the bed. Mokkun babied him, he'd carry meat chunks over to where he was sleeping and curl up with him. He was also really dehydrated. I pumped pumpkin and olive oil into him, took him to the vet (not my regular, they couldn't squeeze him in) and they gave him subQ fluids for the dehydration and an anti-inflammatory in case the blockage was also cause swelling, we took him home with plans for surgery with my regular vet if it didn't pass over the night, stayed up all night trying to get him interested in water and chicken baby food and fortunately for us it passed. These guys get so dehydrated and lose weight so fast when something like this happens, he looked like a sunken in ghost version of himself

[Sherry]

Lucrezia was fine when we went to work about 9am. We got back around 3:30 in the afternoon, she was sleeping, so no biggie. At 6 I went to pull them out of the cage, and she kept trying to crawl back in. She didn't want to wake up, she didn't want to get up. That was SO unlike her. She's the type that goes from dead asleep to wide awake and bouncing in under 5 seconds.
Tried giving her some oil, no interest, tried the lax, nothing. She loves both of those.
So we started to alternate lax and pumpkin, got her in to the vet's, they did an xray, then a barium, couldn't see anything, but vet did say there was a largish pocket of trapped gas, usually indicative of a blockage. She asked me if we wanted to bring her home to try and get her to pass it(her vitals were all still good), or we could leave her there, and they'd try to get her to pass it. I figured she'd be more comfy at home, so we brought her back, did lax/pumpkin every 1/2 hour. She passed a chunk of foam the size of my pinkie nail, and then crashed. Literally. We couldn't rouse her at all.
I made a 30 minute drive in just over 10 minutes. She spent the night there, they xrayed again, and she'd passed it already at home. Her "crashing" was sheer exhaustion, and she'd fallen into a dead ferret sleep ;D

[Deleted]

Thank you for sharing guys! Those both sound like terrifying experiences! I am so glad I found the hair elastic and pray I won't have to deal with a blockage. But it really helps to hear your stories so that I know what to look out for!

[Sherry]

It does help. That's how we had a good idea what was happening with Lucrezia! Reading about other's ferrets, and what happened when THEY had a blockage

[Deleted]

Knowing your ferret is key to recognizing an issue. Pixie always went crazy for oil, then suddenly didn't want any. She LOVED soup of any kind, and suddenly wanted nothing to do with it. So those were big signs to knowing there was an issue.

[katt]

I knew Koda had a blockage when he started showing several of the classic signs. He was hacking and coughing a lot and seemed to be choking and as heaving. He was SUPER frantic and kept clawing at his face. He then threw up a piece of rubber, and I found more in his poop. Went to the vet and got a Barium X-ray, then went into surgery.

He has given me other scares as well. I find that a heavy dose of pumpkin and Vaseline (mixing the 2 makes the Vaseline more tasty and adds fiber) have been effective. Also feeding raw soupies is helpful as it is easy on the belly and passes through quickly and won't get as "caught up" on the blockage. Don't continue to feed a ferret that is not pooping though because you can add to the blockage.

[weezz]

I've only had two with possible blockages.

First was Trixie a few years back - her's was not from eating anything, just an enlarged liver with lots of fluid (she was a rescue so we didn't have any medical background). She kept trying to "go" with no results, and would grunt, etc. trying to go. Unfortunately she didn't make it, despite the $1500.00 vet bill; she died from the first whiff of anesthetic, so surgery was never performed.

And (speaking of hair elastic) this is why you should keep lax/vaseline and pumpkin on hand at all times. Juno found a red hair elastic the other day, and after several doses of vaseline and pumpkin over 12 hours, this is what she passed (luckily it was the entire part that was missing):