Bone-in troubles

[bishop24]

Little Missy is having trouble dealing with her bone-in meals. She gets constipated once to twice a week and it seems very painful and unpleasant for her.
I’m not sure if she is just eating too much of it or if she’s just not digesting it properly. Her constipated poops are pretty much all rather large chunks of hard bone (ouch!) and her other ones are on the loose side. We only feed her bone-in meals in the morning with no extra bone-in meals during the week. There doesn’t seem to be any pattern to what she eats but I know that she likes gnaw on bones when she gets a chance (we try to prevent this).
I know that the obvious answer would be to feed her less bone-in meals but it’s difficult to keep meals separate with 2 other ferrets who need it. Ellie is 7 months and I know that she needs at least 7 bone-in meals, if not more, and Flint is at a perfect balance. Plus they constantly like to play the “eat the other ferrets stash/food they are currently eating game” Which drives me crazy because I purposely try to give Missy the pieces with little to no bone but somehow I always end up hearing her crunching or gnawing away.
So I’m not sure how to handle this one. How do other people deal with feeding and keeping ferret’s diets separate? And why does she seem to swing between poop consistencies so much?

[Sherry]

It does sound like she is eating way too much, silly girl. The only thing I can think of is to make certain all stashes are kept as cleaned up as much as possible, and take it away if you hear her crunching bones when you've not given them to her. Out of curiosity- how are her teeth? I'm thinking it is possible she may feel a need to chew something hard for some reason. Will she eat frozen meats that are cut longer and thin? If that is the case(the need to chew) that should help a bit. Things like gizzards as well. If she is stealing other's bones, then maybe reduce the amount you are actually giving her.

[Heather]

What happens if you smash the bones up a bit or are you already doing this? It sounds like she's not chewing (ferret don't really chew) it well enough, just swallowing it whole or you might need to offer bigger pieces, especially if she's just wolfing it down
ciao

[bishop24]

Hm, it’s hard to tell. Her teeth look fine and she does really like gizzards but refuses to eat anything that is even remotely cold. But I’m going to take a closer look today.
I will try smashing up the bones a bit more and see if that helps. She does chew her bones and even enjoys just gnawing on bigger, left over bones if she gets a chance.
Should we maybe replace some bone-in meals with bonemeal if it doesn’t help? She has always been a bit iffy with her poops and they go between extra loose and ouch sharp bones with no in between.
Also, are there any non-rubber chew toys out there for ferrets? Ellie also throughly enjoys chewing on EVERYTHING she can get ahold of. I think she just likes trying to destroy things.

[abbeytheferret6]

It would be a little expensive--but wonder if supplementing with some grinds help.

[Sherry]

Bone meal will make her just as constipated. She simply needs less in her diet. It may be an idea to make a food diary for her for a month. Write what you gave her, what she has stolen from others, and what her stools are like. You just may find a correlation.

[bishop24]

So I’m beginning to notice that the major problem is her taking the others leftover boney pieces at meal time. Sneaky little girl will vulture the other’s food in their feeding den after they eat off all the meat 😐
I’m not sure how to keep them separated at meal time. They always eat outside of their cage and get confused when one can’t. Giving her the less bone in pieces first works for the most part but when she realizes the others get the crunchy parts she steals them. I guess it will just take practice on my part.
Also, is there anything more immediate I can give her when she gets constipated? I give her egg but it takes a while to work. It looks so painful, she sorta half waddles and half scoots her butt on the ground and it looks all swollen and red. But it’s about the only time she welcomes cuddles.

[Heather]

You can use prep h on her poor butt. Just hold her for about 10 minutes after.
ciao

[bishop24]

May 22, 2018 13:26:20 GMT -5 Heather said:

You can use prep h on her poor butt.

😂😭😂😭 Oh poor little girl. But thankyou Heather that’s a great idea.

[Sherry]

Can you feed her first? Let her get something in her tummy so she doesn't steal quite as much?