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Post by katt on Jul 19, 2010 2:04:30 GMT -5
Eventually you guys are going to get tired of my questions! haha
Koda pooped and seemed to be wiping his butt more than usual. I looked at him and his anus seems to be red, and a bit more swollen than normal. It also seems to be slightly protruding (swollen?). It does not appear to be a prolapse. What could have caused this, what can I do, and what signs should I watch for? Could this have had anything to do with him being so thirsty yesterday?
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Post by 1 on Jul 19, 2010 10:59:15 GMT -5
Eventually you guys are going to get tired of my questions! haha Koda pooped and seemed to be wiping his butt more than usual. I looked at him and his anus seems to be red, and a bit more swollen than normal. It also seems to be slightly protruding (swollen?). It does not appear to be a prolapse. What could have caused this, what can I do, and what signs should I watch for? Could this have had anything to do with him being so thirsty yesterday? My guise is always worms! Dogs wipe around when they get them! swollen from rubbing Could it be connected with his drinking? Uh, YA! His poor tum & gut is irritated! Of course thats just a guise! Koda, your making me very angry with all your health probs! Stay healthy, I love you, ferrets die easy!
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Post by Heather on Jul 19, 2010 15:20:13 GMT -5
Has he been having problems with loose stools again? The red may have been caused by the hard wiping he gave himself. Watch to see if it goes away. I would doubt parasites as Koda would have been in contact and have eaten a flea, though anything is possible. When Odin came back from the vets after his alter he had fleas ciao
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Post by sherrylynne on Jul 19, 2010 18:42:56 GMT -5
Lucrezia gets that on a semi regular basis as well. With her, it is a very small prolapse. Same symptoms as well. That's when I know she hasn't been eating enough bone, lazy sod that she is She gets it because her stool is loose, and her rectum has nothing to really "push against" when she moves her bowels, so she strains even harder, causing the small prolapse. We use some vaseline, and very gently "push" back against it, and put her on a couple hours of cage rest, so it goes back in the rest of the way.
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Post by katt on Jul 20, 2010 4:09:17 GMT -5
Hm thanks guys. Heather - his butt seemed fine and pink before, and later it def looked less red. I have noticed this happened once before too a while ago. And yes, he still has yicky soft, gooey poops.
Sherrylynne - That could be the case seeing as how his poop is mushy.
I have heard of bone meal but I am not sure of where to get it? I do have some pure calcium powder that I use for my iguana, would that work? It is kind of expensive though and comes in a small container. If I could find a big bag of bone meal for kind of cheap that would be nice. I want to order some freeze dried from Casey's Pantry since I just got paid, perhaps they have some?
Also, a question for Jennifer if she is reading this - or anyone else who knows the answer. Koda's back nails have been a little stringy when I cut them, so I think some velvet antler stuff would be good for him. (His nail is already grown back btw!). Do you have the link for that stuff again? Did they sell bone meal too? Perhaps I can order it all at once.
If I get bone meal, how do I know how much to add?
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Post by mustelidmusk on Jul 20, 2010 8:54:56 GMT -5
www.bonusvelvetantler.com/ I get the small treats. They now have powdered antler. Powdered bone meal: get human grade bone meal to avoid high lead content. start out adding about 2 pinches per meal. you can use ground eggshell. I don't use a lot of the eggshell/bone meal on a regular basis since the addition of a lot of extra "bone/calcium product" can skew the nutritional balance on a long-term basis. (I do give 1/4 antler per ferret per week for mineral content, and I'll add some eggshell for a several if weeks if somebody has loose stool) For longer term/continual use, (some ferts seem to develop need more fiber) the following can be used as well: clay: bentonite/montmorillonite (animals eat clay in the wild to self-treat digestive issues and, obtain minerals - plus it's a detoxifier. powdered phsyllium husk hydrate pysllium well and let the food sit for about 15 minutes before serving... this will ensure that the psyllium is fully hydrated before serving and will not absorb additional water and continue to swell in the stomach. ground broccoli, canned, unspied pumpkin, etc - NO chunks or larger bits of veggies, which can cause obstruction. These veggies will pretty much remain undigetsed. Some people feel that the addition of veggies is bad for ferrets, but whole prey has a lot of non-digestible bulk (fur, feathers, some bone, etc.) My ferts' tumimies are happier with the adddition of bulk to their diet. Gotta run (work as usual ) -jennifer
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Post by 1 on Jul 20, 2010 9:28:05 GMT -5
www.bonusvelvetantler.com/ Powdered bone meal: get human grade bone meal to avoid high lead content. start out adding about 2 pinches per meal. Is that how you care for ferrets, by feeding them your own kind? I'm just kidding Try giving him some mouses, bone, claw, and raw. Of course if powdered is required over whole small bones you can get some pork or beef bones and just grind them. By the way, what has he been eating?
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Post by Chelsea on Jul 20, 2010 11:53:22 GMT -5
I cant offer any help, but I actually just noticed, Jake has the same thing. It seems to happen right after he does potty and "wipes", but it seems to go away shorty after My guise is always worms! Dogs wipe around when they get them! Dogs scoot their butts on the floor (or, "wipe", whatever you want to call it) when their anal glads need to be expressed, not because of worms.
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Post by katt on Jul 20, 2010 13:47:15 GMT -5
Thanks Jennifer. I will try to remember to order some later today. Where exactly do you find human bone meal? I looked in the natural section of the local grocery store and didn't see anything. That is usually where they put odd things like that.
Koda does get bone in his diet. AS an example of what he is eating right now I bought (see if I can remember it all) a whole chicken, bone in chicken wings, chicken heart, chicken liver, beef liver, beef steaks, chicken gizzards, and I think 1 or 2 other meats. Can't remember at the moment. I chopped it all up and divided it randomly into serving bags and stocked the freezer. Almost every bag has a little bone in it, and he still gets whole prey on occasion.
If I feed the bone meal, how often and for how long should I feed it? What are the other "nutritional blanace" issues that you mentioned if this is used long term?
Is it ok for him to wipe if it irritates his butt like that? The carpet is soft but *grumbles* we don't really appreciate the poop trails when he wipes. If his poop was more solid I think he'd leave less poop trails and maybe feel less like he needs to wipe so much.
So it is ok to add canned pumpkin as a regular part of the diet? I thought it was supposed to be only an occasional type thing? If I do feed it every day, how much should I add? Typically I have used it when he has REALLY runny stools, or when I am worried he ate something or has a belly ache, and then I try to get him to eat a decent amount - maybe 1/8 to 1/4 of a cup or so (I am a TERRIBLE judge of amounts and measurements so don't take that as super accurate haha). I imagine that would be too much to feed on a daily basis.
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Post by katt on Jul 24, 2010 13:40:44 GMT -5
So I need the velvet antler treats for small dogs right? Would calcium powder (no phosphorus, no D3) for reptiles be ok to give a ferret?
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Post by katt on Jul 24, 2010 13:41:19 GMT -5
Could Koda choke on the antler, or could it cause impaction in any way?
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Post by 1 on Jul 24, 2010 14:03:42 GMT -5
Could Koda choke on the antler, or could it cause impaction in any way? Then grind it just in case.
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Post by mustelidmusk on Jul 26, 2010 0:47:53 GMT -5
I owe you some answers.....
Regarding the butt wiping and Koda's "irritated bum".... I put the potty box on top of a soft absorbent cotton towel. when the ferts exit the potty box, they wipe on the towel. Because the towel is anchored under the entire potty box that's attached to the side of the cage, , the towel tends to stay in pace because the brats prefer to wipe on the towel. It's softer and more absorbent than carpeting.
You may need to go to a supplements/vitamin/nutraceuticals store to find human grade bone meal. If the reason for the bone meal is for adding bulk to help with the loose stool, then the vegetable matter , clay, or psyllium will be cheaper. So will the ground egg shell. The problem with feeding extra bone/calcium on a long term basis isthat it can eventually skew the balance of the meat/organ/bone. They clay, psyllium, ground veggie will not alter the overall balance of the feeding program. Does that make sense???
I will post more later. My husband was doing backups on the computer all weekend, so I could not get on line. Please let me know if you have any quetions bout this part so far. Then I'll address the other stuff.
Also I check out all your pics. - cool!! love the lizards and snakes too>
-jennifer
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Post by katt on Jul 26, 2010 4:08:07 GMT -5
Thanks! I will post a better reply later. MY iguana I just discovered, has a skin infection from stuck shed. And probably a URT infection as well from the lack of humidity lately. Gotta go do something about that. More vet bills! What veggies are ok to give? Other than squash/pumpkin?
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Post by sherrylynne on Jul 26, 2010 9:51:48 GMT -5
Get some lettuce, toss it in the freezer, and portion some of that out with his meats/soups.
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