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Post by acodlin on May 23, 2012 17:26:57 GMT -5
Naobi was very sick last october and suffered brain damage because of the illness. Ever since then she's not groomed herself  she might chew at an itch but never cleans her fur. My grandmother came to visit recently and brought to my attention that she doesnt smell quite as fresh and clean as I thought. I havent really been bathing her but after I was informed that she "reeked to high heavens " while the other ferrets didnt, I decided that she's going to need an actual bath, probably monthly. Her fur does get oily/greasey after a month and she recently had a case of rat tail. I don't think she smells bad but I'm also use to it. I use baby shampoo if I absolutely have to give a bath but I was wondering if there is something better I can use that won't strip quite as much oil off her coat. I don't want her fur to feel like its coated in grease, but I don't want to strip it completely either if I don't have to since that will just drive up the production of the oil. |
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2012 17:40:13 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2012 17:55:45 GMT -5
I would say that conditioner would probably help a lot in preventing her from drying out. You could also supplement with some fish oil and maybe oatmeal baths if their skin gets too dry.
Are water only baths an option? The issue with shampoo bathing is that it perpetuates a cycle of oil overproduction. Stinky ferret -> bath -> extra oils -> stinkier ferret.
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Post by acodlin on May 23, 2012 19:16:02 GMT -5
Water baths just make her fur feel sticky and greasy. I havent seen the wysong shampoo before i will have to check it out.
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Post by Deleted on May 23, 2012 20:07:53 GMT -5
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Post by Thérèse on May 25, 2012 10:32:00 GMT -5
Just checking that additional health issues have been ruled out for the extra oil/rat tail
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Post by acodlin on May 25, 2012 10:55:45 GMT -5
She has the extra oil because she doesnt groom herself at all.. thats due to brain damage that we think was caused by an ear infection that moved into her CSF/brain.
She's not sick anymore, she just doesnt know to groom herself. It took 4 months for her just to learn to eat on her own.
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Post by Thérèse on May 25, 2012 11:30:35 GMT -5
poor wee fuzz
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2012 18:32:13 GMT -5
Poor girl.
I don't know if it helps but I use a conditioner when I bathe Bode. His fur is nice and soft afterwards.
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Post by Heather on May 25, 2012 18:55:07 GMT -5
What if you made an oatmeal wash for her. It's not soap and it might not work but it also might prevent her from drying out. Put some oatmeal in a cheesecloth bag and put her in some warm water, soak the oatmeal bag and then rub it over her.
ciao
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Post by Deleted on May 27, 2012 13:57:45 GMT -5
What if you try the rice dig box idea? Apparently the rice is supposed to naturally soak up majority of those oils. You'd have to change it out a lot more than a normal rice dig box, but, maybe?
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Post by acodlin on May 27, 2012 17:14:57 GMT -5
I've got some oatmeal so I think i'll buy a cheese cloth and give it a try.
I could try to put her in the rice dig box, i've tried with the packing peanut box and she just lays there like shes unsure what to do.. her life is pretty .. hmm lazy. She eats, poops, sleeps and cuddles.. sometimes she gets mad and she'll stomp around my bedroom and run through a tunnel, but mostly she just wants to cuddle and have her belly rubbed. No one should feel sorry for her in the least, the time to feel sorry has long since past.. she's catered to, waited on hand and foot and shes so spoiled... she knows it. A little huff and a little whine and she has fresh food, beds fluffed and her belly rubbed lol.
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Post by Heather on May 27, 2012 19:16:33 GMT -5
Sweet little one, she does sound like she's perfectly happy with the situation. After reading a book written by a recovered stroke (embolism) patient (she was a neuro-scientist, so understood the exactly what was going wrong as it was happening), I think I understand. One of the things this lady found about recovering was that if something stressed her, her mind would shut off that stress and put her into an almost blissful space that was very difficult to combat. It took all her knowledge and some very helpful and knowledgeable medical people for her to work through this disability as it was very easy to slide into this no-stress place in her mind.
ciao
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Post by Sherry on May 27, 2012 20:03:21 GMT -5
That's really interesting Heather. Looking back on all the stroke patients I've worked with, going to that "no stress place" is what a lot of them did as well.
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Post by Deleted on May 28, 2012 1:24:33 GMT -5
Wow, that's really interesting.
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