|
Post by meli on Jun 17, 2008 10:31:43 GMT -5
So I was cleaning the litter box this morning and noticed poop similar to this picture I got off the ferret.com forums It was just one poop to..the other ones were normal (mushy). They have been pooping fine before until last night which I assume is from the diet change? I'm thinking it could be a host of things, them getting use to their new enironment and food. Other than that one they're still eating, drinking, playing, biting, dooking, and everything else that comes normal with kits. I'm not alarmed just wondering what your thoughts are everyone.
|
|
|
Post by tss on Jun 17, 2008 12:14:06 GMT -5
I'd say it's normal. You haven't had them long and you just started them on a raw diet, weird poops aren't anything to worry about
|
|
|
Post by meli on Jun 17, 2008 13:58:15 GMT -5
Thanks! Just wanted to make sure.
|
|
|
Post by Forum Administrator on Jun 17, 2008 16:29:06 GMT -5
Yup, until your babies start eating bone, they are going to have anywhere from mushy/loose to semi-liquid poo. The sooner they get on bone the better But for the time being, thats okay.
|
|
|
Post by Jaycee on Jun 17, 2008 18:05:50 GMT -5
I call 'em "soupie poopie" .....and it is yuck!
|
|
|
Post by meli on Jun 17, 2008 20:40:09 GMT -5
haha there is no more of it lol just mush..poop watching is fun.....
|
|
|
Post by Jaycee on Jun 18, 2008 6:37:12 GMT -5
It's my new favorite hobby!!!
|
|
|
Post by meli on Jun 18, 2008 13:01:55 GMT -5
we have some running poops but nothing out of the ordinary. Less poop this morning now that they have had two solid days of raw meat. I'm seeing the pros already!!
|
|
|
Post by amyandfuzzies6 on Jun 18, 2008 14:54:42 GMT -5
Ahhh! I knew the opportunity would arise to share this study on terrestrial mammal feces. Terrestrial mammal feces: a morphometric summary and description www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02762003000900014&lng=en&nrm=iso&tlng=enExcerpt: [stool] They can be also be completely black as lion feces, due to the great amount of blood ingested (Lienbenberg 2000). I thought this one excerpt was especially noteworthy on the black lion feces. Feeding gizzards and hearts will also produce black feces however, the blood is from the food, not the ferret.
|
|
|
Post by meli on Jun 18, 2008 17:04:15 GMT -5
That is very interesting! So the larger the blood content of their "prey" the difference in the color of poop. Very good to know. Generally what color poops do raw fed ferrets release?
|
|
|
Post by amyandfuzzies6 on Jun 19, 2008 12:14:22 GMT -5
That is very interesting! So the larger the blood content of their "prey" the difference in the color of poop. Very good to know. Generally what color poops do raw fed ferrets release? It can vary and can reflect what they've been feed. Egg poops can be runny and yellowish and a tad stinky. Anything with a high blood content (like gizzards, hearts, liver) will be looser and black. A pig-out on cream could be white, loose and just plain gross looking If my ferts are eating cornish game hens for 2-3 days straight, their poops will look like a normal brown - almost as if they were eating Totally Ferret - but smaller and much less odor. I would say that you might see a little more variance in stool on raw than on kibble. I think I mostly keep my eye out for very thin poops - indicating some hair/lint clogging. And I also keep an eye out for black stools if I suspect someone isn't feeling well and haven't eaten anything with a high blood content. Most raw feeders report they don't need to use a laxative. I do but I think mainly because my ferts love all the faux furs and fleece - PLUS they groom each other quite frequently. I also can't do whole prey so they don't get the benefit of fur and feathers which also aid in keeping the intestinal track clear. It's taken me a while to embrace and accept the idea, but the experts in the online Raw Meaty Bones online group advise not to obsess as much over the poop when raw feeding. If you don't belong to this group already, I highly recommend you join. I posted the recent newsletter (quite long but a good read) in the health section and there is a link at the bottom to join. You may notice a lot of variance in poop over the first few weeks when switching to raw but this tapers off and gets more normal. I hope this helps!
|
|
|
Post by meli on Jun 19, 2008 12:19:28 GMT -5
Its does. I've already seen several different colors but they're being introduced to chicken (all parts), turkey breast and necks, and now freeze dried. In two weeks they'll be introduced to mice. Its good to know what to expect and not worry so much. They do dark poops when I gave hearts and gizzards, brownish-orangish when I gave the chicken thighs and wingettes. So its varying as to what I've been giving them.
|
|
|
Post by cristina on Jul 21, 2008 23:27:22 GMT -5
so I have been reading all the poop changes for ferrets that have switched to a raw diet...now Im in the between stage (still on very mushy kibble) and I have noticed many changes in at least one of my ferrets poop. Boomer is about a year old, when I got him I thought he had ECE and gave it to penny (same age) since they had green poop for about a week and cold like symptoms, both cleared up and it wasnt anything bad. I now notice his poop has been birdseedy lately (like once a week) since the start of the mush, and little bits of green slime sometimes in it, but he seems normal everyday! Today I noticed half his poop was a green blue color (dark) and very sicky, I dug into it with some gloves to make sure it wasnt anything unnatural he may have eaten (no...it was thick green and blue slime!) So now Im a little worried that if it was ECE in the beginning...is it back? OR is this normal when you go through the switch (if you take my mushy food route) ;D
|
|
|
Post by Forum Administrator on Jul 22, 2008 4:12:38 GMT -5
On a natural diet, poop looks different pretty much every day. Different foods will cause different colored poops. During the inital stages of the switch (as your ferret's body adjusts to raw) your ferret can have some pretty colorful poops lol! Everything from a greenish tinge, black and tarry (from chicken liver), or bright yellow (from egg).
Now you said you are ONLY feeding mushy kibble right now? Are you mixing any kibble and raw?
|
|
|
Post by cristina on Jul 22, 2008 19:39:57 GMT -5
ONLY kibble and water right now (and a tsp of duk soup, to keep their weight up I saw boomer was starting to lose weight). The only time he EVER ate anything raw was the literally BITE he ate when I mixed mushed kibble with a little venison. It has been his poop too (his is always bigger in diameter, he is larger than Penny), Im talking very minute portion was actually eaten of raw, was this enough to change the color though?
Im almost certain he had ECE (slightly) when I got him but he was so young and healthy it didnt seem to affect him at all and barely lasted a week, Im just worried about this since the descriptions match what Ive seen and I read that it can stay with them (the virus) up to 6 months and its been about that long, though he has been perfectly normal, which is why I ask if it could be the watered kibble since this has been the only dramatic change to anything.
|
|