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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2012 3:07:33 GMT -5
I'm babysitting my nephews ferrets this weekend. They are acting normal and healthy. They eat raw when they visit here and they love it. Friday night they got beef heart and today, pork without bones, then chicken wings tonight.
Well, after the pork and before the.wings, Rosco started trying to vomit, but he was only bringing up clear saliva. I gave him oil, then some laxative, and he stopped. Now he's running around wrestling and acting fine.
He's eating, and I think his poops look ok, though they are loose, which I was thinking could just be because he doesn't eat raw all the time (Stellas are the same).
Do you think I should be worried?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2012 4:00:24 GMT -5
I may have a possible answer to this mystery already. I think Rosco had (or possibly still has) a partial blockage from hairballs. After his hairball treatment / laxative, he pooped this out: Untitled by walkerstop, on Flickr Yep that's a lovely hairball. I scraped the goo off of the hairball in the bottom left area so you could clearly see it's a tightly-packed ball of hair. I pulled it apart just a little to make sure it was hair all the way through. The stuff in the upper right is the same, it's also hairballs, but covered in what I assume is laxative and other poop remains. Maybe you can use the ziptie for reference... Based on the size of these hairballs, do these look like a normal thing to you, something you would often find in a ferret's poo, or do you think they may have been in there for a while causing a partial blockage? I am administering more lax, followed by pumpkin. I am going to treat the rest of the ferrets while I'm at it. Any other suggestions for Rosco? I wonder if something like this could have been life-threatening for him. I mean, it was making him vomit already... My nephew went out of town this weekend and his wife was going to take care of the ferrets, but I really felt like I should do it instead. Maybe it was meant to be, I can't help but wonder if this could have developed into a life-threatening situation (or still could). I also can't help but wonder if he would have been able to pass this hair on his normal kibble diet, without any lax or pumpkin. I would think that the nice fatty meats they have been eating today and yesterday would be more helpful to loosen something like this up, maybe.
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Post by Thérèse on Apr 15, 2012 4:32:26 GMT -5
can't really answer the questions but just glad he has someone looking out for him, hope he is doing well now
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2012 5:38:07 GMT -5
Well I administered laxative to the ferrets who would take it, and pumpkin to the ferrets who would take it. This turned out to be an ordeal. It turns out that the only ferret who will happily eat both laxative and pumpkin is Finn. The rest of the ferrets liked the taste but hated the sticky texture of the laxative. It's like it was getting stuck in the roof of their mouths or something. Fiona actually gagged and threw up the lax after trying to swallow it. They would only take it if I thinned it out a little with olive oil. I was only able to make them eat a little bit. As for the pumpkin, I either had to mix it with olive oil or chicken baby food for them to eat it, depending on the ferret. Picky little ferts... I also hate to mention this because it's embarassing... but I may have made a mistake and jumped to the wrong conclusion. It is possible that the larger hairball poop I found might have come from Fenton rather than Rosco. The color of the hairs seems to look more like Fenton's hair, and I didn't actually see Rosco poop it out. Rosco is acting normal, so it's possible the vomiting up saliva or clear liquid was just a hair in his throat or something irritating his tummy. The reason I am suspecting this more and more, is because after I gave everyone lax, I caught Fenton pooping, and when I picked apart his poop... I found hairballs. They were small, a lot smaller than the one in the picture. BUT, guess what... Fenton is shedding, and Rosco isn't. It kind of all makes more sense that Fenton pooped out the large hairball I found. He hasn't been acting sick, but maybe as he's shedding, he's just eating a lot of hair and passing hairballs on a regular basis, this is normal during shed right? If I was at home, I would be able to isolate each ferret so I knew whose poop had what in it. But I'm actually out of town visiting my parents' house in the mountains. Rosco, Fenton, Fiona, and Stella are all in one FN141 cage and Finn is in the other one. Anyway, both Rosco and Fenton are eating and acting normal and energetic, so unless anyone has any other suggestions, I guess I'll just keep monitoring things.
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Post by Thérèse on Apr 15, 2012 6:09:02 GMT -5
The fur coming out may not match the ferret, if they are grooming each other, so it could be either Rosco or Fenton. Hopefully whoever it is it will now pass through uneventfully
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Post by Heather on Apr 15, 2012 8:04:24 GMT -5
I think from the amount of fur there that you've definitely got hairball problems. I would be tempted to treat everyone. That appears to have be a very close call for one of your little ones. It happens. Odin just that about 2 or 3 weeks ago ciao
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2012 8:47:22 GMT -5
You can try warming up the pumpkin and baby food - my guys like it warm. I use Catlax for hairballs -pet supplies carries it or your vet it is thicker - my guys dont care for the ones that are like molasses.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2012 10:56:10 GMT -5
I mix the vas with pumpkin & heat them until the vas melts. All my kids take it this way. It's shedding season, so all us ferrents need to be extra vigilant on hair balls my Pixie just passed a small one yesterday
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Post by Sherry on Apr 15, 2012 11:23:36 GMT -5
Mine have been passing them as well. Glad you caught that. With Roscoe, my first reaction was a hair stuck in his throat.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2012 11:25:32 GMT -5
I was thinking the same thing Sherry!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2012 13:00:49 GMT -5
Yeah I think we had the same thing happen with Finn once while I was out of town and my nephew was watching him. He called me, all upset and worried, because Finn was flat-ferreting and dry-heaving, then he brought up some saliva. I had him give Finn olive oil, then he was fine after that, totally went back to normal, and never pooped out any blockage or anything. I'll go ahead and treat everyone again today, though, because Fenton and Fiona are shedding heavily. Everyone got a bath this morning, that was fun! I'm visiting my Mom's house and Finn was starting to get pretty musky, it was bugging my Mom, and my nephew's ferrets Rosco and Stella stank of poop and pee (I hate to imagine why, looks like I need to go check on their cage situation when I get back in town, I hope it's just because of their kibble diet and I don't find out their cage is not being kept clean). Fenton and Fiona got a bath too because I think it might help with shedding, plus everyone was doing it ;D
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2012 15:05:15 GMT -5
Wow Mikey. Your furballs are lucky to have you caring for them (and your nephew's furballs are darn lucky too same reason ). Glad they are doing ok!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2012 15:29:06 GMT -5
You guys ROCK!! That tip about warming up the vaseline was awesome!! Everybody hated the Petromalt laxative / anti-hairball stuff, except Finn. Trying to trick or force them all into eating some last night was a nightmare! They hated the petroleum jelly just as bad... BUT, when I warmed it up to where it was nice and soupy, they all ate it willingly off my fingers! Awesome! Finn is high-maintenance in some ways, but when it comes to taking his medicine, I wish everybody was as easy as Finn! Finn will gobble down cold Petromalt or Vaseline with gusto ;D He will even lick my finger hard with his scratchy tongue to clean off every last smear of it A little later I'll follow up with another dose of pumpkin. Does pumpkin work best alone, or with Vaseline or olive oil? Anybody have any tricks for making the ferrets like pumpkin? Should I try serving the pumpkin warm? So far NONE of them, including Finn, like pumpkin by itself, they refuse to eat it. The only way I've gotten them to eat the pumpkin is by mixing it with olive oil, which works for most of them, except Fenton. Fenton still hates it even with olive oil. For Fenton, the only thing I've found that he likes is mixing some cream into the pumpkin ;D But I can usually make him eat it with oil, if I scruff him. I wonder if they will like pumpkin better warm! Now that I've learned the warming up trick, I'm going to administer Vaseline a little bit more often until shedding season is over. I hate to admit it but I have not been giving lax or pumpkin as often as I should because it's such a struggle to get them to eat it But now the Vaseline will be NO problem! Now if we can just conquer the challenge of making them eat pumpkin
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Post by Sherry on Apr 15, 2012 15:34:46 GMT -5
I believe Jackie's trick is to mix it with a bit of EVOO and warm.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 15, 2012 16:11:57 GMT -5
Just an update - Fiona pooped out the vaseline, and some small hairballs came out with it!
Her little hairballs looked the same color as the ones I saw Fenton poop out, which also look just like the big hairball that was pooped out.
I still don't know for sure who pooped out the large scary looking hairball, but since Fiona's little hairballs are the same color as it, and Fiona's fur is exactly like Rosco's, I would say it is still a possibility that the big nasty furball could have come from Rosco.
I'm so glad they are passing these things... How often do you guys recommend the vaseline and pumpkin treatment during shedding season?
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