My ferret has had diarrhea for about 3-5 days?

Question
My ferret, who is around a year old has diarrhea for 3-5ish days now. I'm extremely worried because before the diarrhea he had seedy poop for around a couple of weeks. About a month ago I tried switching him from ZuPreem to Iams because a lady I know feeds her ferrets that and my vet said it'd be fine but my ferret did not like it. I made sure to try to do it slowly but after a couple of weeks I noticed he would not eat it so I took it out. So he's been on ZuPreem for around a month or so. He does have a friend, who eats Marshall's and he will sometimes eat that too. I just took them to the vet a while back in late January for their shots and check ups and he said they were fine. How worried should I be right now? Should I take him to the vet asap? Thank you.

Answer
Hi Molly:

Diarrhea is one of the things that can kill a ferret in 24-48 hours. It dehydrates them and their organs stop functioning.

CHECK FOR DEHYDRATION:  Pinch up the skin on the back of his neck and pull it up, then let go and if it snaps right back down flat on his neck, he is okay. If it stays "tented" up at ALL, he is dehydrated (the extent it stays up helps you determine the extent of dehydration he is suffering from). SLIGHT dehydration (1/8" or less stays up, then slowly goes down) can be taken care of at home by offering the ferret anything FLUID (but without sugar) that he will drink. Even warmed water with several drops of Ferretone is great - he will drink because of the Ferretone. My kids like Pedialyte (in the baby food aisle grocery or pharmacy) in bubblegum and grape flavors and it's good for dehydration. Try giving it full strength; then if he doesn't like it, try giving it diluted, try it cold, try it warm, try everything you can to get fluids into him.

Any dehydration beyond a very very mild case should be seen by a vet IMMEDIATELY in an emergency vet clinic or hospital if after hours. Usually about 100cc of sub-cutaneous (under the skin) fluids will get him back to eating and drinking again. If it doesn't, REPEAT the sub-Q fluids every 12 hours 100 cc of ringers lactate. Your vet will know what to do.

I will repeat this again because it's life and DEATH - if your ferret is still not eating and drinking and his dehydration test shows "tented up" skin on the back of his neck that doesn't snap right back down flat when you release the skin - get him to an emergency vet IMMEDIATELY.

I hope and pray you get this in time to help him if he is still in danger and not eating/drinking. Be sure to get him back on his regular food and go ahead and add the Marshall's to the Zupreem (a mixture of two different foods is a good idea) as long as he likes it and is eating it.

I can't stress the importance of this enough. My thoughts and prayers are with you and your precious little one.....

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers