Green Diarrhea NEEDS HELP!

Question
i been having her for about 4 days now and i been worrying that she is sick Cuz she hasn't been eating or drinking at all and she has been pooping like a green slime...other den that she loves 2 run and play ....but 2 day she did eat a lil bit of food and drank some water..so should i still have to be worrying or she is going 2 b alright..plz answer asap Cuz am worryied..thankz!

Answer
Hi Ricky:

Sorry to hear your little one is not feeling well.

Diarrhea is always serious - anything more than ONE or TWO incidents of diarrhea requires the ferret have at least some Pedialyte (find it in the grocery store baby aisle) helps, extra fluids. SECRET TO GETTING THEM TO DRINK EXTRA FLUIDS: Give water with just a few drops of Ferretone on the surface...they LOVE Ferretone and will drink a big cup of water trying to get to the Ferretone :-)  Some ferrets like grape or bubblegum flavor Pedialyte enough to drink it by themselves with just a little encouragement.

Any diarrhea that lasts as long as what you are describing, she really needs to be seen by a vet and have a stool culture done in addition to a blood panel. It's a good idea to have these tests done on a new ferret anyway so you have a baseline to reference later in her life.

Hopefully you don't have other ferrets that can catch a contagious disease such as ECE (epizootic catarrah enteritis), which is very very serious disease that many ferrets die from if they don't receive treatment early and sub-Q and by mouth) aggressively (antibiotics and lots and lots of fluids given regularly). Occasionally ferrets will be ECE carriers and not have an active case of it until they have an emotional upset, such as a new home, and the disease will then surface and they become very very ill and often even die if they don't receive vet care quickly.  

Your little one definitely needs fluids from the vet and a good exam - please don't let this go on any longer, okay?  It's really important; you really could lose her.  If you have an after-hours vet hospital, it would be a good idea to get her there for fluids and then take her to your vet tomorrow.

Another thing I would ask is whether you are feeding her exactly what she was eating before she came to your house. Ferrets don't like to change foods; they 'imprint' on their food at a young age and don't recognize new food as "food".  Any food change must be done very slowly.  

If possible, contact the people you got her from and be sure she is eating the same she is used to eating.   If that is not a premium ferret food like Totally Ferret, then you should start slowly introducing Totally Ferret, a few kibbles at a time in her bowl, then mix TF with what she is eating now and shake the bag well to blend the flavors.  Slowly, feed more TF and less and less of the other food you are trying to get her off of.  As long as it's a premium ferret food, IF you want you can add another food or two to the 'mixture'. It's always a good idea to feed ferrets several foods mixed together (all premium ferret foods - Totally Ferret, Marshalls, Mazuri, Path Valley, Sheppard & Greene, etc) in case one manufacturer changes its formulation, your ferret will still eat the others. When they are used to a varied mixture of foods, they aren't as picky about what they eat. It does take time for them to adjust to ANY food changes.  Put any new food into the bag of food being fed (that she is 'imprinted on') and shake well so the flavors blend in storage.

It is possible that the green diarrhea is just 'nerves' from being in her new home. Hopefully you are giving her lots and lots of out of cage playtime and one-on-one loving attention - that will help her settle down and feel loved much sooner than if she is just left by herself in the cage. She needs to know that she is very loved and cared for.

Sometimes green diarrhea that doesn't resolve in just a day or two can be caused by a disease called ECE. IF your ferret has this, she could easily die from dehydration within 24 hours of bad diarrhea onset.  You can check her for dehydration by 'scruffing' the back of her neck (pick her up like a momma ferret would, grasping the skin on the back side of her neck), then let loose.  If the skin snaps right back down into place, she is not dehydrated; but if it stays tented up or slowly goes down, she is dehydrated and needs 'sub-Q' (under the skin) fluids ASAP from ANY vet in order to make sure her kidneys and other bodily functions don't start having serious problems.

Best of luck - please let me know if I can help. My thoughts and prayers are with you and especially with her. She needs love a LOT at this time.

Just in case you don't already have a ferret vet, here are some lists of vets (some are the same on all lists, but some are on only one list, so check every list for your city/state):

VETS CANADA:   
* http://www.ferretrescue.ca/start.php
* http://tinylink.com/?TlVyYKa6e0
* http://www.ferrets.org/Veterinarian_Listings.htm   (British Columbia)
* http://www.ferretcentral.org/for-others/db-vets.html

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/

VETS  UK & IRELAND:  
* http://homepage.ntlworld.com/ferreter/vetlist.htm

VET INFO/ LIST OF FERRET GROUPS/ CONTACTS IN UK, ITALY, NEW ZEALAND, AUSTRALIA, NETHERLANDS, GERMANY & DENMARK:       
* http://www.ferretcentral.org/for-others/db-overseas.html (scroll down page to find the one you are looking for)

VET TO VET HELP: (procedure videos & phone consultations)
* http://www.westendanimal.com   Dr. Deborrah Kemmerer *order medical procedure videos (vets)
* http://www.bradleyhills.com   Dr. Charles Weiss - *does vet to vet telephone consultations for a fee*

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers