skinny ferret

Question
Hi, I just adopted a ferret last friday and i noticed right away that he is really skinny i can feel all of his bones i also noticed that he has very weak back legs. he can't really stand up on them and he doesn't do so great at walking either he will take a couple of steps then fall over. he eats normally and his poop is normal...the people i got him from fed him cat food and we are transitioning him to ferret food...do you have any idea what could be wrong with him...

Answer
Hi Meredith:

I'm so sorry to hear your little guy is having problems. No doubt the fact that he was being fed cat food would affect his overall health - he probably just wasn't getting enough protein, which is usually much higher in ferret-specific foods. (BTW:  DON'T buy Kaytee foods OR treats - although they *look* appealing with their many colors, they contain dried fruits, which are very often the cause of intestinal blockages in ferrets. Experienced ferret owners refer to Kaytee Fiesta as "blockage in a bag".

Now, on to his weak hind legs.  Do you know if he got regular out of cage playtime before he came to you?  There are just a myriad of things that can cause  weak back legs - some very minor, others very very serious.  Rather than guess, I would strongly recommend that you take him to an exotics vet and let him go over him thoroughly so you know exactly what you are looking at.

One of the things it *could* be has to do with blood sugar, so UNTIL YOU GET HIM INTO THE VET, please keep some honey on hand and if you should  see him just staring into space and in a very weakened condition, take just a few drops of the honey with your finger and rub it on his gums - don't ever try to put anything down an unconscious or semi-conscious animal's throat, but IF his problem is low bloow sugar, this will bring him out of the trance-like state. Then follow immediately with a very high protein food such as some baby food (meat only) chicken or turkey, warmed slightly and fed with your finger.

I feel so bad for this little one. It doesn't seem that the previous owners paid much attention to him. He may well have had these problems for a long time.  In some cases,it could mean that his disease has had time to take over his body and the most humane thing MIGHT be to have the vet put him down - HOWEVER, you absolutely cannot determine that without a really thorough vet exam.  I'm only telling this so that you understand that he *may* be a very ill ferret.  On the other hand, he may just be weak from bad food, may have low blood sugar - things that can EASILY be controlled and he may go on to live a long and happy life with you.

Thank heavens he found his way to you so you can to the right thing and get him proper care from a vet.  If you don't know of an exotics or ferret vet in your area, here are several lists where you can look up your state, then city and find one near you. These lists were compiled by other ferret owners who have used these vets for their ferrets and recommend them for ferrets:


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)

In the meantime, you can supplement his new *ferret food* with some meat - babyfood chicken and turkey seem to be very popular; some folks have recipes they swear by and they make a huge batch, then freeze it and use when needed - if you want to do that, do a search on "Duck Soup - Ferrets" and you will a myriad of recipes.  You can also get a product called "FERRETVITE" which will help give him some extra vitamins, although I hesitate to use that because it does have sugars in it and IF he is having a blood sugar problem, it *could* put him into a crisis. The important thing is that you keep him on a very high protein, meat based, ferret-specific kibble such as Totally Ferret, Marshalls, Mazuri, Zupreem, Ultimate 8-in-1 (ULTIMATE ONLY - 8 in 1's other products are not as highly recommended), Path Valley Farms food....you get the idea - top brand ferret-specific kibbles. Also, always keep fresh water available to him.

Here's a great website for new ferret owners. You can look up almost anything you can think of and it's really helpful:

http://www.ferretcentral.org   Click on FAQs, then whatever topic you are interested in and scroll down the page to find the information. There is also a great book called FERRETS FOR DUMMIES by Kim Schilling that I recommend for ALL ferret owners - both new and old. We can all learn from this one and it has a great index so you can look up whatever you need to know. You can get it reasonably on http://www.half.com or on eBay or Amazon.com.


Hopefully somewhere in the vet lists you can find a vet near you.  I will keep your little guy in my thoughts and prayers. I hope you can get him in to a vet as soon as possible.  I think a full work-up is definitely in order. Then you will know exactly what is going on because I could guess a dozen different things and still not be right.

Please take good care of that precious little one & keep me updated if you can, okay?

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers