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Post by nicemarmot on Apr 24, 2022 19:24:02 GMT -5
Hello! I noticed a couple weeks ago that my 3.5 year old girl's whiskers on one side are all short. They look like they were cut with scissors, but it's just me and my husband here, so that isn't possible. A cursory Google search suggests poor health/malnutrition could be to blame. Now I'm quite concerned 
She's kibble fed - a 50/50 blend of Wysong epigen 90 (with digestive support) and Instinct ultimate protein chicken formula. I have noticed recently her coat does seem a bit coarse/greasy
It just seems odd to me that the whiskers are short/cut on one side only. Could there be another explanation for this? We just had to put our 6 year old to sleep Thursday so I'm panicking at the thought something could be wrong with another one of my babies. The short whiskers aren't related to his death as we noticed it a couple weeks back
Any suggestions? Is there something she could be missing in her diet that I need to add? They get salmon oil on a regular basis (once or twice a week) and occasionally Beech nut brand baby food as a treat. I like my vet but she isn't very knowledgeable about ferret nutrition (she once recommended we feed them Mazuri)
Another thing my ferret does is chew on her food bowl. It's ceramic so it can't feel good. She's gone through phases where she'll bite her food/water dish, stop for a few months, then start up again. She's also a waardie and a little special in other ways.. Not sure how much that has to do with anything
Thank you so much in advance!
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Post by Corvidophile on Apr 25, 2022 16:42:38 GMT -5
I once experienced this with my own middle-aged ferret and the only thing I could come up with was he stuck his head too close to a box fan on the floor and they got chopped off, but I still don’t think that was likely it. They grew back eventually. I think they were all just shed off at the same time.
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Post by unclejoe on Apr 25, 2022 17:01:26 GMT -5
I once experienced this with my own middle-aged ferret and the only thing I could come up with was he stuck his head too close to a box fan on the floor and they got chopped off, but I still don’t think that was likely it. They grew back eventually. I think they were all just shed off at the same time. the fan blades would have to be pretty sharp. I like the shedding theory better. How do you serve her food? I know that she's older, but when Mr Jingles the kat was around 7-9 months old we discovered his whiskers were suddenly shorter. We did some research and found that some kats don't like their whiskers rubbing on the side of the bowl while eating and chew them off. We switched to plates and it stopped. he now has some of the longest whiskers and eyebrows I've ever seen. |
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Post by nicemarmot on Apr 25, 2022 21:45:51 GMT -5
I once experienced this with my own middle-aged ferret and the only thing I could come up with was he stuck his head too close to a box fan on the floor and they got chopped off, but I still don’t think that was likely it. They grew back eventually. I think they were all just shed off at the same time. So weird! I'm really hoping it's just related to her spring shed somehow.. I wondered if she could've broken them while playing in her tunnel or something, but I don't see how that'd be possible. Good to know other people have had the same thing happen to their ferrets, fingers crossed her whiskers will grow back longer than ever! |
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Post by nicemarmot on Apr 25, 2022 21:50:15 GMT -5
I once experienced this with my own middle-aged ferret and the only thing I could come up with was he stuck his head too close to a box fan on the floor and they got chopped off, but I still don’t think that was likely it. They grew back eventually. I think they were all just shed off at the same time. the fan blades would have to be pretty sharp. I like the shedding theory better. How do you serve her food? I know that she's older, but when Mr Jingles the kat was around 7-9 months old we discovered his whiskers were suddenly shorter. We did some research and found that some kats don't like their whiskers rubbing on the side of the bowl while eating and chew them off. We switched to plates and it stopped. he now has some of the longest whiskers and eyebrows I've ever seen. She eats out of a large ceramic food dish. Well.. technically, it's a water dish. It has the word "water" embossed on it, but we've always used it for their food lol. I hadn't considered whisker fatigue before - sounds like it might be worth a try to feed from a plate for a while. Thanks for the suggestion!! |
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Post by msav on Apr 26, 2022 11:00:23 GMT -5
after converting several ferrets from kibble to Raw. That is one of the many things noticeable, the strength and length of the whiskers after 6 months to a year being converted. We just got 4 rescues and their whiskers are short and broken, I am sure it will change. Our 2 kits have nice long whiskers But they were off of kibble the day you got them from Petco.
Kibble fed ferrets (even freeze dried) always are on the border of being dehydrated. They are lazy and do not drink enough water, Even less if they have a water bottle. They get most of their hydration from the raw diet.
When I was feeding kibble with my first ferrets, the first symptom they always got when they got sick was dehydration.
and there is something about Waardies and chewing on bowls. the 3 we had all did that. That and splash in their water bowl and make a huge mess. However the 2 kits we have now splash all the water out of their water dish when we don't let them out at their normal time.
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Post by unclejoe on Apr 26, 2022 17:29:14 GMT -5
The 3 waardies I had also played in their water and one chewed on the bowl (plastic locking crock). I got a water fountain for the kats and the ferrets love it as well. I would never recommend that a ferret use a water bottle. That's one of those things the pet store sold me when i got my first ferret and I was horribly ignorant.
You can try this: use a coffee grinder to grind the kibble to powder and mix with water to make a medium thin mush to get them to drink more. then you can add ground poultry to get them used to raw meat and progress from there as you feel able.
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