Skinny poops,very worried ferret mom,HELP PLEASE!!

[hokuro]

I noticed last night that my 3 year old male ferret was having some odd litter habits. He would go in, and as if he were doing the " mock poo " they usually do when they know they are coming out to play and need to use the bathroom first. Except... he was already out to play. He went in the box on his own terms. He has gotten some poops out, but they are skinny and more.... for lack of a better term moist? slimey?...than usual. Not green or black or anything like that. I'm thinking it could be a hairball, or a small piece of something? He isn't a chewer. I really cannot afford a vet visit right now. I work a minimum wage job, but even so I treat my animals better than I treat myself. I am very short on money due to shoveling out tons of it in efforts to save my ferret that recently passed away due to cardiomyopathy *used all of my ferret emergency funds, plus a lot more * It's been about a month since his passing, so I don't think his poop is off due to stress, because it has been normal up untill last night. He is still VERY playful. Playful enough to chase me around the living room chuckling as I was pacing in panic attack from worrying about my furkid. Is there anything I can do to help him? He is still eating, I gave him half of a jar of chicken baby food today mixed with some canned plain pumpkin. I also took him outside on his harness to get some moving going on in his insides. He did make a poopie out there, but a thin and more moist-than-normal poopie. I really am hoping that there's nothing too serious wrong, and I hope that it's something I can fix myself. I cannot take losing another one of my fuzzbutts . And if it helps at all, the food that they are on is drs foster and smith original formula. He has 2 cage mates, which are both pooping normally. Any help at all would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you.

[Sherry]

Get some vaseline into him right away. Pick up some pure pumpkin(no spices) and give approx 1tsp. Keep alternating with this every couple of hours. He has a partial blockage. Hopefully this will push it through since he's not blocked entirely. I say "may".
What you want to see are nice big orange poops from the pumpkin.
Can you get care credit? He may need surgery to resolve this, I'm sorry. Or make a deal with the vet for payments over time?
Please keep us updated?

[Deleted]

It sounds like it could be a possible blockage to me. They can get blockages from hairballs, as well as eating foreign objects.

What you're going to want to do is keep giving him canned pumpkin as well as some vaseline (petroleum jelly) every couple hours until you see a nice fat orange poop (The petroleum jelly will make the poop look slimey too). What you can do is alternate the pumpkin and petroleum jelly i.e. give him some pumpkin now, then in an hour-two hours give him petroleum jelly, then in 1-2 hours pumpkin then petroleum jelly, etc.

Once you get a nice looking poop, get some gloves on, put it on a paper towel grab some tooth picks / Q-tips and start dissecting. If you find a hairball / foreing object, then your next step is to keep giving pumpkin/vaseline to make sure the whole thing passes!

If you get a nice big orange poop and do not find anything in it, keep giving the pumpkin for the next few days just to be safe.

Keep us posted I really hope your little one is okay!!!!

[Sherry]

Thanks Steph! I forgot to mention about checking for the foreign object! Just to let you know, a poop that's full of fur will actually look a lot like a slug.

[hokuro]

Thank you for replying. I have been giving him pumpkin, I just gave him a little over a teaspoon at 730, and once before at about 3. Should I give him a teaspoon of the vaseline as well? or more? Should I give him one right after the other? Is care credit obtainable if you cannot prove that you are working? I work at a pizza place for the time being because times are getting hard, so I don't have a lot of money, or proof that I even work there because I work under the table. This is AWFUL.

[Deleted]

1. You need to weigh him NOW write down his weight and KEEP it somewhere where it won't get lost.
2. How skinny are they? are they long? post a picture( sounds gross but it will only help us help you)
3. Feel both sides of his tummy with your hand like a crab claw-hard to explain-and make sure you don't feel ANYTHING hard. any lumps or anything!
The mock pooping is a sign that he has a blockage.
4. Start pushing pumpkin right away! a tablespoon every hour or so until he poops a nice big poop. if he does not within a day or so bring him to the vet IMMEDIATELY or if he is not pooping at all BRING HIM TO THE VET. i know it can get expensive but you are going to have to figure it out. if he has a blockage his life could be at risk and you could do nothing but get surgery which is anywhere from 668$-809$.
5. Watch him closely and weigh him every day! if he is losing more then 4 ounces In one or two days bring him to the vet. I am so sorry that it gets expensive. we just spent 500$ on my ferret who did not even make it through surgery, they found a tumor and put him to sleep. long story.
START PUSHING PUMPKIN if you don't have any pumpkin, or squash baby food GET SOME NOW or it could be to late! blockages are serious and what you are describing sounds EXACLTY like a blockage!!!

[Deleted]

sorry if i overreacted i just don't like seeing ferret mums go through this!!! it was hard enough for me:(

[Sherry]

Like carpetsharks mentioned, give the tsp of pumpkin, and an hour later a 1/2 tsp of vaseline. An hour after that, another tsp of pumpkin, then another 1/2 tsp of vaseline. Make sure it's straight petroleum jelly.

[hokuro]

Thank you for all of your help! I posted before I saw the last 2 replies. Okay so one of them, every couple of hours. Got it. I will try everything. I will keep you all posted. I really hope this ends up being a HUGE scare, and a strict reminder to me how things can go wrong at any time. I need another job just to keep up with these guys! We went years with just routine things, shots, ect. Now, in the past month 2 things have gone wrong! Hopefully the pumpkin-vaseline trick works. Thank you all so much again.

[Sherry]

Not a problem. And something you CAN do over time is to get a prepaid credit card. Put even $10 a week on it, and keep it put aside. It will add up fairly quickly if you are strict about doing that.

[hokuro]

Correction, i'll do one of them each hour. ( I'm reading the replys, then replying too late! ) I will try this and let you know. And stivs, I appreciate your concern as well! I am going to go give him some vaseline since I gave him the pumpkin an hour ago. I emptied the litter box so I could monitor how much poop is coming out, and whats new. I will be exersizing him again soon, so when I do that, if he poops, I will get a picture and post it. They arent seemingly extremely long or anything, just skinny and small. I am so glad I found this website. Thank you all for your help and I will keep you posted.

[hokuro]

@ sherry, that's SORT of what I did. I was keeping a stock pile in a bank account. Unfortunatly, I used all of it, plus more that I didn't have trying to save my ferret that had a heart condition. Unfortunatly, he didn't make it through. I haven't gotten to start a new ferret cash pile yet, since I had to pay off the rest that I had to borrow for the H.D. ferret. This all just came at a very bad time.

[Sherry]

I do understand, believe me. It always seems to come all at once And yes, please do keep us updated.

[hokuro]

Just gave him the Vaseline. No hard lumps or bumps can be felt in his abdomen. I thought he felt bloated, but then again I've never had any impactions before, so I've never had to " feel " for an abnormal abdomen. I felt my very healthy 4 month old and he feels the same way, and he just took a huge healthy poopy. No more poops yet from Otto ( the one having the problem ). I will be going back down at 940 to give pumpkin. When should this become like, high alert worry? Because when I take them out, he is still being his rascally self. I'd say even more so today than usual. Still wrestling the boys, still war dancing, still chasing me and chuckling, and still eating baby food. I say just baby food only because I am absolutely certain he is eating good amounts of that, but like I said he has 2 cage mates so I can't completely tell if he's eating dry. His gums are pink, his skin is still snapping back well so he doesn't seem dehydrated. He isn't acting like he is in pain. I don't know if it matters, but he just had a distemper shot on saturday. Figured I'd mention it just in case.

[Sherry]

Those are all good signs You will need to separate him out though, so you know when he poops, and how much. As for when it's an urgent emergency? If he becomes lethargic, grinding his teeth, refusing food, etc. If he does that, you need to get him in THEN.
In the interim, keep pushing the vaseline and pumpkin until you see those good orange poops.