RED SPOTS: BLOOD IN STOOL?

Question
recently i purchased a ferret, he is about 10 weeks old and he seems to love it around the house. He seems fine most of the time but when he goes the bathroom in his litter box sometimes he misses it (the one in his cage) and it gets on his fluffy white bedding. I noticed today that the white bedding had a little red spots on it, like blood. I was wondering what this could indicate, please let me know as soon as possible. Thank you.

Answer
Hi Kevin:

So sorry to hear that you think your little one might be having blood in his stool.  From what you are describing, I'm not sure..........I have a lot of questions after reading your question, Kevin.

First, are the "red spots" you describe IN the stool itself, or just little red spots in the bedding?   If it is just red spots and NOT IN IN THE POOP itself, your ferret MAY have gotten his toenail caught and it bled.

  .....IF THAT IS THE CASE:  Be sure to keep toenails cut short, just above the little vein you can see inside the nail, and so that the hooked part of the toe nail is always clipped off; otherwise they can get caught and bleed.......they can even bleed a LOT, so be sure to keep them clipped. A large pair of nail clippers (the kind men keep on their key rings) is perfect. Just be sure not to get near the vein inside the nail AND watch out for the pad on the foot also. :-)

Secondly....does your little guy run loose in the house in unferretproofed areas where maybe he could have gotten ahold of something red (maybe a crayon, red plastic toy, etc.) eaten it, and be pooping it out???  

   .......IF SO, One way to find out is to KEEP THE POOP that has the red in it (IF  it's in a poop). Within an hour or so, IF it's blood, it will start to turn dark, and eventually turn black.  New blood is red; old blood is always blackish.     So, even IF it's blood from inside him, it would be from his lower intestinal tract or even around his anus, as "digested" blood is always black and looks like coffee grounds when it's pooped out. So, have a look at his little butt and see if you can see any bleeding there too.  IF THE RED SPOTS IN THE POOP STAYS BRIGHT RED, it is probably part of a crayon or toy he ate.  

......FIX FOR EATING SOMETHING like crayons or plastic: Give a few good doses of ferretlax or other cat hairball remedy to make sure all remnants of the foreign object are cleared out of his intestine, to make sure he doesn't get a blockage in his intestine (which is likely IF there is something in there that doesn't come out - this can become life threatening, so it's reallly important that you give the cat laxative and move it out of his digestive tract.) This is VERY IMPORTANT that you give him about 1" rounded ribbon out of the tube a couple times a day for the next couple of days to clear it out IF it is part of something he ate that he shouldn't have eaten.     

THEN.....you need to check your house carefully and make sure you have it well FERRETPROOFED - and IF you're not sure how to FERRETPROOF your home, write again and I'll be happy to help you with that too :-)  It is IMPERATIVE for your ferret's health that all things that can harm your ferret be kept out of his reach so he can't get to them.

NEXT......Is the "fluffy white bedding" you use a 'nesting' material that you get at the pet store that may have little pieces of wood in it?  Or is is fabric from your home?  Hopefully it is fabric from your home, as the bedding material from the pet stores sometimes has little pieces of stickery stuff that could poke him and cause just a little surface bleeding on the pads of his feet or on his bottom (they scoot their bottoms after they poop), so look carefully at the pads of his feet and around his butt and be sure he's not bleeding anywhere.
 
.........The cure  for this, of course, is to use soft fabric instead of bedding material.  Cheaper for you (it's washable and reuseable) and healthier for your ferret too if you just use flannel and/or fleece bedding in the cage.

If you could answer the above questions and write back to me, I can be of more help.  As long as you only have little red spots of blood, you know he's not going to bleed to death right away, so try to stay calm and play detective and let's see if we can figure out where it's coming from and exactly what it is, before you get too panicked, k?  I know how scary it is when our little ones are sick or we think something is wrong.  

I *suspect* in your case that *possibly* your little guy has eaten something red (crayon? something made of red plastic?) and pooped it out IF it's in his poop.  If it's only on the bedding and not in his poop, I would suspect that he has a tiny place, maybe a toenail bleeding, that needs to be addressed.

Of course, IF your ferret HAS eaten something (red or otherwise) you will need to TRY TO FIND OUT WHAT IT IS, get a few good doses of ferretlax or other cat HAIRBALL LAXATIVE DOWN HIM RIGHT AWAY and clear out any remnants of whatever he ate so it doesn't cause a blockage in his bowel.  

Let's hope for the best and continue to watch him closely, try to get back to me with answers to my questions, and hopefully we can come up with an answer for you right away so you can stop worrying.  I think just a little bit of detective work will reveal what is going on here and whether or not it is something to worry about.....I will anxiously await your reply.

Hoping for the best.......

Sincerely,

Jacquie Rodgers