Skinny Poops - Weight Loss

Question
QUESTION: Hello and let me say im sorry in advance because im sure it has been asked somewhere but i gave a quick look and didnt see it exactly so im going to ask it. My ferret is a marshalls ferret, i got him when he was bout 8 wks old, he will be a yr old in april '08. He has only ate marshalls food, no treats, no other food, except lax. About a wk and a half ago his poop was green like maybe 3 times, and i noticed he was losing weight. i took him to the vet. which isnt a ferret vet but i live in country so its my only vet. He has done alil research and just hired a vet that worked with ferrets in the local zoo a bit. Anyway they took an xray, stool sample both came back normal and good. But im still concerned because he was like 3.47 lbs now hes 2.81 lbs and i put him in my bathroom to play because i can put his toys in there and theres nothing he can get into or nothing to harm him and i know he is totally safe, well he uses every corner in there to pee and poop but lately it will be like a drop of pee and a thin line of poop in every corner and he looks skinny to me. He is still eating, drinking, playing acting pretty normal and he vomited once like brown liquid about a wk ago. My vet really cant help me on this and i was wondering if i am worrying for nothing or what. I heard they shed and lose baby fat? Maybe thats it? Im in NC so its feb. here going on spring but not yet. Any help will be appreciated, i know its hard to give advice like this and thank you for trying.

ANSWER: Hi Kim:

This time of year it's not unusual for ferrets to drop a little weight and for them to shed also. Sometimes the shedding can sneak up on you and can build up slowly in the intestines. Since that's the most dangerous of the choices of things that *could* be wrong with him, that's what I would recommend strongly that you treat first and then see how he does from there. When you say that he does a "thin line of poop", that concerns me greatly. I have a ferret who tends to get hairballs and he gets those 'thin' poops too.  I give him several days of hairball treatment and it gets him back in action again. However, since I have not had much luck with the petroleum-based hairball laxatives, I have been using a product called "VETASYL" with awesome results.  You will need "VETASYL"...available at http://www.1800petmeds.com about $15, and "UNCLE JIM'S DUK SOUP MIX (by Marshalls Ferret)..about $11. It seems like a lot of money, but they will last you forever and you won't ever have to buy the goopy Ferretlax stuff again...and you'll be able to SEE this stuff work!

Mix the CONTENTS OF ONE CAPSULE OF VETASYL (toss the capsule itself away), TWO LEVEL TEASPOONS OF UNCLE JIM'S DUK SOUP MIX and SIX OUNCES OF VERY WARM WATER and stir very well (with your finger just to be sure that it's not too hot for the ferret to drink). Give to the ferret and encourage him to drink ALL OF IT if possible. If necessary you can dribble a little Ferretone on the top to get him started, re-warm it, add a taste of peanut butter for flavor, as long as it remains very thin and watery & keep stirring occasionally so all the Vetasyl doesn't sink to the bottom. It usually goes down pretty easily - my large male will drink the whole six ounces without hardly taking a breath!

About three hours after drinking this, start watching the litterbox. He will start having big fat poops. Remove all the big fat poops from the box and examine them to see WHAT may be in them other than just poop.  IF YOU FIND ANYTHING OTHER THAN POOP, be sure to keep it to be sure that "all" of any item is there (i.e., not just 'part' of a balloon, eraser or ear plug). REPEAT THE VETASYL/DUK SOUP MIXTURE ONCE A DAY FOR THREE DAYS IN A ROW.  If your ferret poops anything the third day other than poop, go ahead and give the mixture a fourth day; if he passes anything the fourth day, give the mixture on the fifth day, etc.  You want to give the mixture one day longer than when he passes the last foreign object just to be sure that everything other than poop has been passed.  The ferret *should* have nice big fat poops after this.   If they go back to being thin again, REPEAT THE THREE DAY TREATMENT AT ANY TIME, it will NOT hurt the ferret. SKINNY POOPS WILL HURT THE FERRET.

I'm also concerned about the small amount your ferret appears to be peeing.  It's important that you keep an eye on that also.  The best way to do that is by using either newspapers or paper towels so you can see both the amount he is peeing AND the color. If the newspaper or paper towels look pink where he peed, it could mean he's passing a bit of blood with urine. He definitely should be passing much more than just a little dribble of urine.  Usually the only thing that will cause decreased urine output is a prostate gland swollen from increased hormones present in adrenal tumors.  Adrenal tumors are common in ferrets over the age of two, but since your ferret is only a year old, I don't really suspect an adrenal tumor. Also, you didn't mention any fur loss, which would *probably* be one of the first symptoms you would notice if he had adrenal tumors.  So, since you didn't mention any of those things, I will recommend only that you be very sure that your ferret's water bowl is very clean and has fresh water in it at least twice a day. Ferrets LOVE water from a bowl and will often drink much more from a bowl than from a hanging bottle, but the trick is that you MUST keep it fresh and change it twice a day or they won't drink and that causes a whole bunch of worse problems.  Water is vital for good health, so be sure he has fresh water - even a new water bowl sometimes will perk up a sagging thirst.

I hope you don't leave your ferret in the bathroom all the time. There simply isn't enough social stimulation for him in there. Ferrets MUST have lots and lots of interration with people. He MUST be allowed to run and play and jump and be silly - things he just cannot do in a bathroom, unfortunately. He needs to be around people and be talked to at LEAST 3 to 4 hours a day.  If he doesn't get this, you will see it reflected in his overall health. Probably a good option would be a ferret 'play pen' (wire panels that are completely 'shape' adjustable) so he could follow you from room to room or at least be in the room you spend the most time in. Hopefully you could ferretproof that room and let him run and play in it.  I always take my ferrets in the bathroom with me, also, but that's a very very small part of their overall play time. They require much much more play time and human interraction, talking, running, playing, etc than they can get in there :-)  So I hope you will try to integrate him into the livingroom or family room - wherever you spend the most time. If not the whole room, then maybe half of the room. Whatever you can do safely.

I do think the three day (or however many days you end up doing - keep an eye on him and judge according to results) treatment will do wonders for his 'skinny poops'. It sounds exactly like what my ferret had and I was giving him ferretlax regularly. I gave him the hairball treatment I've listed here and on the third day he passed a hairball the size and shape of my little finger and the end of it was green with pus!  This was only a month after he had hairball surgery for $1,000!  Little did I know, but he was almost in another intestinal blockage crisis!  This stuff absolutely saved his life - hope you'll give it a try. I think you'll be surprised how it will perk your little one up.

Best of luck - if there's anything else I can do, don't hesitate to write!

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks for answering so quickly ! I will try that mixture to see if he passes anything. I don't leave him in the bathroom permanently. He has a huge cage he stays in while im working and then i let him out to play and spend time with him, then i put him in the bathroom the last part of the evening while im cleaning his cage and going in and out the doors feeding my outside critters because i know he is totally safe but still can run and play a bit while im busy. My bathroom is as big as a spare bedroom and also a joined to my bedroom so with baby gates blocking no no spots and shut doors he is allowed to interact with me when im in my bedroom or on the PC. Again thanks for the advice, I will try that this week and see the outcome. God Bless.

Answer
Sounds like an excellent set-up. Good idea to safeguard him especially when doors are open and you're busy. Sounds like he has a really good mommy! :-)  Let's hope we get some good results with that 3-day treatment. I really think that will take care of his problem. Don't hesitate to write again if it doesn't....or if he poops anything incredibly interesting, I always like to hear about that too!  ;-)  Only ferret parents are this obsessed with poop! LOL We know if our kids are pooping healthy, they ARE healthy, so yes, we are a bit obsessive about it. <grin>

jacquie