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Post by bree313 on Aug 15, 2019 22:00:56 GMT -5
Hiya,
At what point should I get concerned about "seasonal weight gain". I live in South Australia so its late winter here. One of my ferrets has stacked on the weight and I'm concerned for her health.
Is there anything that would suggest the weight gain to be something more than seasonal?
Does anyone have any experience with their ferret putting on 40% total bodyweight and losing it as the seasons change?
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cockneyferret
Adolescent Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Posts: 253
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Post by cockneyferret on Aug 16, 2019 2:33:08 GMT -5
Hiya,
I am pretty sure that I read somewhere that 40% is normal.
Cheers
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Post by peacexlovexpets on Aug 16, 2019 9:46:36 GMT -5
I weigh my ferrets (3 boys, 1 girl) at least twice a week and have it charted out in excel. This summer alone one of my boys went from 1300g to 1150g (12%) and another from 1150g to 1050 (9%) and that is just summer months, not winter weight (as I haven't been weighing them enough to get a winter weight on them) so they can fluctuate fairly easily. www.cypresskeep.com/Ferretfiles/Winter-FM.htmThis website states 30-40% weight gain is fairly normal in the winter for ferrets. It also depends on how old your ferret is. For the most part, the younger ferrets tend to get chunky faster as they are always hungry even after they stop growing/metabolism slows down. My female kit is a solid chunk compared to my boys and my largest boy is my youngest boy (just under 1yr old). Do you weigh out your ferret regularly or is it just an observation of it looking quite chunky? If you go just off of vet visit weights, it won't be very accurate. You have to weight them at the same time in the day, so they have gone through the same eat/poo routine to make the reading accurate. I use a kitchen gram scale with a bowl on it for my noodles and have never had an issue.
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Post by bree313 on Aug 23, 2019 19:46:54 GMT -5
I weigh about every 2 weeks at home on the kitchen scales. My girls are all about 10 months old now.
The girl that has stacked on the weight has health issues and her medication may be causing her to eat more too, but the extra weight is possibly making the health issue worse. I can't play with her more because its a breathing issue and she gets out of breath quickly. I cant take her outside for walks because I can't vaccinate her until she's healthy which will involve losing weight. So I'm stuck in a loop and hoping the season change will come with a bit of weight loss. Her litter mate sister and her were the same size when I got them, judging by the difference in weight between the girls the weight gain is approximately 34%. It's also very visible and you can feel the fat around her tum, she struggles to clean herself properly and she has little bald patches on her belly where her feet rub or where it rubs on the carpet.
I love her so much I just hope her winter weight nickname doesn't stick. Her name is Magic but her nickname recently has been Waddles
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Post by abbeytheferret6 on Aug 24, 2019 1:38:37 GMT -5
What is her health issues (besides weight gain) and her medication? Maybe someone will have some insight here. Can you walk her around your yard? Do you have a lot of stray dogs in your area that may carry canine distemper? As far as rabies, the ferret would have to come in direct contact with mucus or saliva from a rabid animal to get that.
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Post by bree313 on Aug 24, 2019 22:35:05 GMT -5
She has congestion on her lungs (shown in xray) and is being treated with Prednisolone. I can walk her around my yard if the dogs are restrained (they're vaccinated for distemper).
I wouldn't say stray dogs but possibly negligent dog owners who haven't vaccinated, I'm along a very popular walking route to a reserve so get alot of people walking their dogs past.
I'm in Australia and I haven't noticed many bats around my area (I think the only known animal in Aus to carry rabies)
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Post by crazylady on Aug 27, 2019 11:07:13 GMT -5
Hi Bree winter is the time they pile on pounds and the pred will make her extra hungry weigh her food and feed her separately at ten month she should be on an adults portion of food for a jill you are looking at 3-4 oz of meat try splitting it into morning and evening if there is meat left cut it down to 3oz until you find the amount her body needs though when on pred they never feel full dont give in to her mommy I am starving looks ! lol I promise you its enough I have some 5 pound (7 pound in winter ) males who survive quite happily on 4 oz in winter reducing down to 3 1/2 oz in summer once she looses some of her tummy she will turn back into an energiser ferret ( cant say bunny thats a no no my guys eat them lol) good luck Bev
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Post by unclejoe on Aug 27, 2019 16:44:02 GMT -5
That is about right for a few years, but as they get older (in my experience, 11 yrs, 30 ferrets) they don't change as much. But each one is unique. As long as they are otherwise healthy no worries
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Post by bree313 on Aug 29, 2019 19:21:35 GMT -5
Hi Bree winter is the time they pile on pounds and the pred will make her extra hungry weigh her food and feed her separately at ten month she should be on an adults portion of food for a jill you are looking at 3-4 oz of meat try splitting it into morning and evening if there is meat left cut it down to 3oz until you find the amount her body needs though when on pred they never feel full dont give in to her mommy I am starving looks ! lol I promise you its enough I have some 5 pound (7 pound in winter ) males who survive quite happily on 4 oz in winter reducing down to 3 1/2 oz in summer once she looses some of her tummy she will turn back into an energiser ferret ( cant say bunny thats a no no my guys eat them lol) good luck Bev This is a hard one, my girls are a bunch of hoarders and I don't have enough hours in the day to find all the food stashes. If the 4 others each put half their meal into a different stash spot and I miss even 1 then little miss loves food will find it. Only 1 out of 5 will eat her food at the plate, everyone else grab mouthfuls and run off to eat it. I think part of her weight problem is my soft heart giving her a tiny bit of oil (The Good Oil) after her meds cos she hates the meds. I had to take one of my other girls to the highly knowledgeable (and pricey) specialist vet yesterday. We had a bit of a chat about miss tum and I will be making an appointment for her next week to reassess the treatment plan and do some extra diagnostic tests that weren't offered at the vet I had been to. I will do my best to control her food intake and find all the stashes. Thanks for your advice (even if I did have to google the weight conversions from oz to grams!)
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Post by Heather on Sept 7, 2019 17:05:06 GMT -5
YOu're treating with pred. You mention congestion, could she be suffering from cardiomyopathy? Lasix might help control her congestion. ciao
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Post by bree313 on Sept 7, 2019 23:33:41 GMT -5
We're off the the specialist vet this week, the cough seems to have greatly improved - I've heard 1 cough in the past 2 weeks. I want to get another set of x-rays done and likely an ultrasound. I've given the vet a heads up on the situation, I fully trust her judgement but ideally would live to take the ferret off the pred. I will be getting her heart checked for sure
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Post by bree313 on Oct 28, 2019 21:44:22 GMT -5
Update on this girl:
She has been off the Pred for about a month, a consult with the specialist recommended that she comes off as it did not appear to have resolved the issue and could potentially cause complications depending on the diagnosis. The cough remained and was worse depending on the weather. Yesterday was the big day at the vet, ultrasound of her heart and surrounding organs and full body xrays were performed. These all came back normal. The vet checked the throat with a camera and found the cause of the cough.
The diagnosis: tonsillitis!!!
My poor baby has had tonsillitis for months, the first vet we went to said that she would probably have a chronic cough for life because she might have been raised in less than ideal conditions. She now has a cough medicine and a course of antibiotics that target the bacteria causing the tonsillitis. Her tonsils were so swollen they blocked over 50% of her airway.
My girl is on the mend!!! I'm also very happy to report that she has lost some weight! She got to 1.18kg at her heaviest and in just over a month she's down to 980 grams! She's so energetic and dooking mad, I can't wait to see how happy she is when she's healthy!!
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Post by okojosan on Oct 29, 2019 1:30:27 GMT -5
I didn't know ferrets could get tonsillitis. I'm glad she's doing better, good to hear she's dooking and energetic again!
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Post by Sherry on Oct 29, 2019 5:45:55 GMT -5
I had no idea either!
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cockneyferret
Adolescent Member
Raw and Whole Prey Feeder
Posts: 253
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Post by cockneyferret on Oct 29, 2019 16:53:28 GMT -5
Wow, not come across that in my reading yet, but have made a note in my "book of fears".
Cheers
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