Keke

Question
Hi,

My ferret is named keke, she is 3 years and I love her to pieces.  She eats the Ferret food provided by Marshall and occasionally chicken pieces.  Keke's last poop looked like her usual poop (nothing out of the ordinary).  There is a lot of space in my house and she roams a lot usually going to the closet and taking shoes and hiding them.  However, recently I have noticed that she does not have as much energy as she usually does.  Usually when I go to her cage she climbs up it without hestitation now she is moving slower.  When she tries to climb the stairs her legs have trouble assisting her.  She has not jumped from anything high or fallen off anything that I can recall.  The only thing I have noticed visually is her private parts are red and swollen.  I am very concerned, it seems that her legs hurt but I do not know.  I would appreciate your expertise and suggestions of what my next step should be.  

Thank You
Paul Sanders

Answer
Hello Paul and Keke,

Given her age (at three years, a ferret is very nearly middle aged in a lot of cases), and her symptoms you are describing, I think it sounds like she may be suffering from adrenal disease, which is pretty common in the world of ferrets and it is at or around three that most ferret parents really start to worry about it. Here is some more information about adrenal disease for you:

http://www.ferretcentral.org/faq/med/adrenal.html

Basically, adrenal disease is when a tumor grows on one (or both, in some cases) adrenal gland and that gland starts overproducing sex hormones, which is why the swollen vulva really tips me off to adrenal disease, in which case, a trip to your vet is very important to figure out what's really going on here. As you'll read, surgery to remove the affected tumor is the best option and as your little girl is younger, she should be a find candidate for surgery, if that is an option for you. If you don't have a ferret friendly vet, let me know and we can try to find one in your area.

I really encourage you to read through that info, and get her taken into the vet as soon as you can to figure out what is going on with your little girl.

And, as a side note, ferrets are obligate carnivores, which means their bodies are only able to digest meat and nothing else. Unfortunately, Marshall's is not the greatest food out there because it gets a large amount of its bulk from corn and corn products, which the ferret's body can't do anything with. Obviously, this is not the best situation for ferrets. I would highly recommend switching foods! Here is a food chart that you may or may not already have:

http://www.mdferretpaws.org/care/food_treats.html

I would stay above a nine in the ranking of the food you feed your ferrets. You should switch gradually to avoid any stomach problems. You should start out with about 85% old food, 15% new food and feed that for about a week. Then, you should try about 25% new food, 75% old food for about a week and so on. You may see some looser poops than usual and this should be fine. That is just her tummy getting used to the change. Make sure she is staying hydrated by checking the scruff of her neck. If you scruff her, and the skin stays tented, then that is pretty severe dehydration that can only be helped by sub-Q fluids (delivered under the skin), so you don't want to let it get that far. Make sure your Keke keep drinking water regularly. Also keep in mind that a ferret needs about 34-36% protein, 20-22% fat and no more than 3% fiber. Also, taurine should be in there somewhere for heart health!

I really hope all this info helps and if you need anything else at all or you just want to tell me how she's doing, don't hesitate!

Sincerely,
Emilee Andrews