Found Worms in Ferrets fecies

Question
My ferret is a couple months old and i have had him for around a month.  Today when i was cleaning his cage i found some worms in his fecies.  I am wondering what i need to do to stop this.  He is already pretty small and am wondering if this could be being caused by these worms.  I am currently feeding him premium 8 in 1 ferret food.  He lives in a cage with 3 stories and runs around my room whenever i am home.  Thanks in advance for your help, Jeremy

Answer
Hi Jeremy,

First of all, congratulations and welcome to the wonderful world of ferret parenting! I am so sorry to hear that your little guy is sick.

It sounds like your little boy has a very serious infestation of intestinal worms. Usually, if you can see the worms, that means the infestation is extremely bad. He might be small because of the worms. The general symptoms of intestinal parasites (and these are usually the biggest symptoms you'll see with all types of internal parasites, not just worms) are dry, brittle fur, diarrhea, mucousy or bloody stool, and/or worms in the stool, abdominal bloating, tender belly, increased appetite but still losing weight, lethargy, weakness, itchy behind, and increased gas. Usually parasites are passed from one animal to another either through the ingestion of infected feces or similar transference. Fleas, mosquitoes, and other hosts can also pass these parasites. Baby ferrets come down with these things at birth sometimes because their mother might have them. Anyway, back to answering your question!

Sadly, the only thing I can really tell you to do is to take him to a vet. He really should see one right away, ASAP, to have medicine prescribed to be de-wormed. From the sound of the severity of your little boy's infestation, an appointment for him should be made immediately. A parasite infestation can lead to digestive tract problems and some say that it may even lead to the ferret being prone to poor health. As a very worse case scenario, a severe infestation can lead to fuzzy death.

Just as a little side note, here is a chart that I like to give ferret parents. It compares a lot of the foods out there that parents feed to their little fuzzy kids.

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

I am not trying to be rude, but as you can see, 8-in-1 Premium isn't the greatest food to feed your ferret. Ferrets are obligate carnivores, so they can't digest anything but meat. They can't have fruits, vegetables, sugars, or grains. As you can see by the chart, that 8-in-1 Premium has corn listed in the first 3 ingredients which puts red flags up for ferret parents when choosing a food. Kibble companies use corn to help bind the kibble into those shapes. To ferrets though, this can cause intestinal problems. If I may suggest, it might be a good idea to look into 8-in-1 Ultimate, which, according to the chart, is one of the best foods you can give and from what I've found, it is only a few bucks more than the Premium is. Also, a higher quality food helps a sick ferret recuperate faster because it has more nutrients in it.

Anyway, those are just some things to consider. As for your little guy, I hope you can get him to the vet as soon as possible because his worms can only be taken care of by a prescribed medicine from a veterinarian. Here is a list of websites that can help you find a ferret friendly vet if you don't already have one:

VETS USA:
* http://www.quincyweb.net/quincy/vet.html
* http://ferrethealth.org/vets/
* http://www.ferret-universe.com/vets/vetlist.asp
* http://www.ferretsanctuary.com/vets.shtml
* http://www.ferretcentral.org/for-others/db-vets.html
* http://ferrethealth.org/vets/


I hope all this information helped! If you have any more questions, please don't hesitate to ask.


Sincerely,
Emilee Andrews