Vet alternative?

Question
I recently got a ferret not even 48hrs ago and I noticed that she is prolapsing. I called the feed store where I purchased her at and the lady said she just wasn't drinking enough water. I know this isn't the case because I watch her drinking water constantly as well as get a good supply of it from her food. I'm new at this and really can't afford the vet bill after my initial purchase of everything. Is there a safe alternative to the vet that can help my little ferret?


Answer
Hi Michelle:

Congratulations on your new ferret! It's actually not terribly uncommon for very young ferrets to have a prolapsed rectum where the anus actually appears to be almost turning itself inside itself. Lucky too - about 99% of them can actually be treated very safely right at home.

The caused of prolapsed rectum is eating dry kibble food too early; it's a good possibility this ferret could have been taken literally from nursing to dry kibble!  SO....what you will want to do is to REVERSE that and give it time to heal inwardly.

WET HER KIBBLE THOROUGHLY. Hopefully you are using a food made especially for baby ferrets (i.e. Totally Ferrets BABY FORMULA), which has extra vitamins new babies need and is a bit easier to digest too. But you will still need to COVER the food with water and let it sit for 15-20 mins (*or see quick tip below) before you give it to her so it has a chance to soften. Wet food MUST be removed, leftovers dumped out and FRESHLY 'soaked' food replaced for her to eat at least three to four times a day. I stir about a teaspoon or so of EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL into the 'soup', which also helps things pass through the other end smoother since we know she is tender back there.  So, try NOT to wet a HUGE bowl of food because whatever she doesn't eat within about 3 or 4 hours, will be wasted. It can go bad pretty quickly once water is mixed with it.

TIME SAVING TIP:  You *CAN* soften a fresh bowl of kibble by putting water on it, then microwaving it to a boil (20 seconds or so?) to help the kibble soak up as much of the water as possible. Just BE SURE the resulting "mush" is warm when you stir through it thoroughly with your finger to check for any hot spots.

To help her with the discomfort (and relieve some of the swelling too), you can dab just a bit of Preparation-H on her tender little bottom 3 or 4 times a day to help the swelling go down a bit.

Don't leave too much Prep H residue for her to lick off; licking the area can keep the irritation going, which is not good...but the Prep H will help a LOT. ALSO, *IF* she will allow you........very gently 'encourage' the skin roll back INward, do that; but all in a very gentle manner. No doubt it's very painful. She needs to STAY ON WET FOOD UNTIL HER BOTTOM IS BETTER; i.e., until the redness is gone. She may be left with a somewhat protruded rectum; be sure to ask your vet to have a peek when she goes to get her baby shots to be sure the area is healing well with just the home remedies - USUALLY that's enough, but every now and then they need a stitch or two. A quick check will answer all those questions for you tho.

IF the anus is still protruding in an couple of weeks (very unlikely), you should take her to the vet where they can take one or two little stitches that will tighten the sphincter muscle up (it will also give her a little better litterbix habits, no doubt).  It is difficult to work on litterbox training the little ones who have prolapsed rectums because their little sphincter muscle is so very tender and probably even stretched out from the dry food forcing its way through *yeeouch!*.

Enjoy that new baby!  I'm always so happy to see folks with their first ferret - so very exciting!  Here are just a few GREAT websites in case you feel like doing some reading (hint hint LOL) - actually with ferrets in the house, staying one step ahead of them is MANDATORY (!)...especially in the areas of ferretproofing, safety tips, etc. Meander around on these websites for some great information, or don't hesitate to come back here if I can help too:

http://www.ferretcentral.org
http://www.ferretuniverse.com
http://www.miamiferret.org

ENJOY!

Jacquie Rodgers