Mt First rescue- digestive issues?

[XennyBug77]

My family started off with three ferrets. All Marshall bred, as we didn't know any better. We had an accident with the way we set up the room, and my sweet boy passed away. The girls were devastated. We waited to get another, and I wasn't even sure I wanted another until I got a call from a friend that works with animals and he told me I needed to meet him at his work immediately, that the ferret that was just relinquished to them was sweet in temperament and reminded him of my sweet angel in heaven. I reluctantly headed to meet him at his work and fell in love, and boy did I have my work cut out for me with this sweet boy. They didn't have much info on him, the owner pretty much dumped him and left. They took him to a vet who said he was 2 to 3 years old. One chipped front tooth that doesn't appear to hurt him. They said he wasn't fixed, but he has no testicles, so unless he's bilaterally chryptorchid I don't see why he would have or could have come to that conclusion as there were no ultrasounds or tests done. He was relinquished with dry low quality cat food that was being fed to him as well as a litter that was presumably and horrifically feline pine. He settled in well the first night, and quickly lost interest in the cat food and couldn't get enough of the kibble we feed in combo with the occasional raw feed the rare times we can get them to eat it. We quickly realized that he had been kept alone in his cage his whole life. His nails were long and broken and I assume they had never been clipped until I did it that night. He had never seen another ferret, and he had never run before. The girls hadn't been so happy in a long time, quickly licking him and making him feel at home. All seemed well as he learned how to play and run around in the entire ferret proofed room filled with toys. Soon though, it was vet visit after vet visit. We got him a rabies shot, and soon after it was puking and diarrhea. Back to the vet we went where it was suggested that we give him benadryl and they give him a steroid shot as it was most likely a reaction to the vaccine. Then it got worse. Vet stays, and luckily we are well off and can afford to do whatever we need to to make sure that he feels 100%. It got better for a while with 24/7 care and doses of metranidazole. He made a full recovery and rejoined our females. He seemed less stressed, but a week into reintroduction and the probiotic that was suggested, he has loose stool again, low energy, and seems to want his cat food again. This is my first rescue and I'm puzzled. I have very little trust in the only small animal vet near me. She tries to give him vegetable based baby food, sugar water to mask the taste of meds, and easy cheese to make him stay still. I only take him to her when I really need to as I can do subcutaneous fluids myself with the supplies she gave me etc. Do any of you have any suggestions on if this is stress or feed, or just the work of maybe the probiotic? I'm willing to do anything including but not limited to drive him as far as I need to to see a competent vet. Any and all info/advice would be amazing. Thank you

[raven]

He could be having an allergic reaction, I just recently got 2 new ferrets and they took right away to eating raw but one of them would immediately violently vomit everything in his system after eating, and once he also had diarrhea while vomiting, so with much panic I've finally narrowed it down to him being allergic to beef and pork as he's completely fine when I feed him anything else but that. Also I would definitely try to find a different vet i'm sure she means well but those are just not good practices when it comes to ferrets.

[XennyBug77]

That may well be. I didn't think of an allergy to the food. He's an odd ferret. Has balance issues, and he doesn't have a tattoo so he's definitely not a Marshall ferret... Thank you. Maybe I'll pick up another type of food

[raven]

Does he have a white head or a white stripe along his head (Blaze)? He could be a warrdy (waardenburg syndrome) It's very common for ferrets with white faces/striped heads to have this, I have a blaze and he's a pretty special boy too lol.

As for the allergy while it sucks to watch you can single out food groups like only giving chicken, only going pork etc. and see what kind of reaction he has to each to help figure out what's causing his digestive issues, it was recently brought to my attention that if he happens to be allergic to beef like mine he's likely to also have issues with basically any bovid animal such as antelope, sheep, goat, buffalo, bison.

Also if you're not adverse to feeding whole prey, rats are a good option to getting an balanced diet to a ferret that doesn't have many food options due to digestive issues.

[Heather]

Feeding whole prey is indeed an option which also offers bulk but if you haven't got them eating raw that isn't going to help as they have to be taught to eat a different diet. If you're feeding whole meats but not feeding bone this will result in constant stomach upset and loose stools. What are you feeding exactly? I cannot help you with your kibbles and recovering from a possible reaction to the rabies vaccine might require the use of a homeopath as vets are just not trained to deal with the long term effects.
ciao

[XennyBug77]

We've recently switched him to Wysong feed, as he lost interest in raw completely and just wouldn't eat anything. He seems to like that. I'd still like to avoid feeding kibble, but all in good time, I suppose. My dad works as a butcher so he brings home chicken often for them. Not much else. I haven't tried rats yet, but I don't want to switch too many things at once and as long as he's eating at this point I'm happy. We recently started supplementing a bit with Carnivore Care, and that seems to balance him out. I haven't considered waardenburg syndrome, and I'll have to look into that as well.