|
Post by mustelidmusk on Dec 5, 2010 9:51:23 GMT -5
anything a long as it's lean and thinly sliced.
About having a "mom" that cooks for you - SWEET!!!! Since my husband became disabled with Lyme disease and can no longer work, he has started cooking since I work so many hours/weekend all the time. It's great because he kind of likes cooking and has even purchased some great southwestern cookbooks. He even bought a large low cooker and has been making all these cool recipes and improving on them. When we were both working, we ate out a lot, which tends to be fattening/less healthy since restaurants don't care about what they put in food.
-jennifer
|
|
|
Post by katt on Dec 6, 2010 7:17:29 GMT -5
At what point should I give some slippery elm? Koda is pooping....mucous basically. His poops are REALLY not looking too great! I gave him a mouse today so I hope that helps...
|
|
|
Post by katt on Dec 7, 2010 5:16:29 GMT -5
So we have 2problems right now. First of all, Koda is still not eating enough. Second of all, his poops are reflecting that. They are tiny and while not dark and sloppy, they are still very mucousy (sometimes nothing but a string of mucous!) and seedy. What should I try? I think part of the issue is him not eating enough. I am not sure how to get him to eat more. I have tried separate feeding times, and there is always extra food in the cage.. I just don't know what to do. I separated him from Kenai and gave him a small mouse which he ate ok, then I gave him a Stella and Chewey's freeze dried lamb patty. He gobbles it up like he was starving! I left the room for a bit to take care of some other critters, and when I got back there were mouse guts - I will have to assume thrown up, because he ate the mouse in the bottom level of the FN while Kenai was in the top eating pork. Then I moved Kenai to the bottom and gave Koda the lamb patty in the top level. So the mouse never entered the top level....yet I still found a pile of mouse guts strung on the cage bars... Anyways, despite giving the initial impression that he was starving, he still did not eat a whole lot. When I cam back in the room he saw me and just wanted out, and I could not get him to eat any more. I put him back in the bottom level with Kenai and put the lamb patty in the feeding den with the rest of their food (ground rabbit and lamb leg chunks). Should I go back to soupies? Start supplementing? Reishi first, or is it time to give the Slippery Elm a shot? I feel like the poopies are due not to him still being off on a flare up from the chicken really, but rather from him simply not eating enough...
|
|
|
Post by mustelidmusk on Dec 7, 2010 9:57:40 GMT -5
Most likely he's not eating because his tummy is bothering him. Start with the slippery elm. That should help to sooth and coat the tummy. I would also feed a single food source - probably the lamb. A soup with a small amount of pancreatin will probably help helpful. I recommend some heavy cream in the soup. Most ferrets like it, so it my help with appetite as well as provide some calories. Some hydrolyzed whitefish will add additional protein that's very easy to absorb.
When you feed Koda, give him one thing at a time in SMALL feedings. For example, give Koda a mouse and see how that goes. An hour later, give a small amount of something else, etc. His tummy is upset and he has been avoiding food. Then he stuffs his belly and he's not used to it - so he barfs. (My Kachina used to pig down so much so FAST that she'd puke.) Koda is hungry, and when he decides he's going to eat, he probably eats fast and eats a lot in one sitting,and his tummy is not used to it. (Kind of like recovering from the puking virus----you do better when you start back eating in smaller amounts of lighter food.)
If the lack of appetite persists, you may end up with a trip to the vet. At this point it would probably involve some blood work. But let's see if we can get Koda back on track without a trip to the vet.
-jennifer
|
|
|
Post by sherrylynne on Dec 7, 2010 21:35:40 GMT -5
This thread is coming in much handier than I'd ever anticipated Boris is showing several signs of IBD now. He's had problems prior to this, but no major troubles. Now, he's got the consistent funky poops, as well as the decreased appetite, etc. He's going in to the vet next week, but I'm going to play it safe, and start him on this regimen early.
|
|
|
Post by katt on Dec 8, 2010 4:08:56 GMT -5
Ok...BAD BAD BAD on this one!!!! Koda is (I am sure it is Koda...Kenai has had seedy poops but otherwise no issues) pooping White Foam!!!! PILES of it! And, he STINKS. He smells absolutely terrible! I am making him some soupies right now, and I will post pictures later. I think I may separate the two for the night so I can watch Koda...
|
|
|
Post by katt on Dec 8, 2010 4:16:48 GMT -5
I cannot find the instructions for the slippery elm anywhere, could you repost it please? I don't even have any pepto as I left that at Shane's! I will give the Reishi and hopefully that will help...
|
|
|
Post by katt on Dec 8, 2010 5:35:39 GMT -5
Pictures updated... holisticferret.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=medicine&thread=5902&page=2Soo I just gave Koda his soupies (before posting the pics). It had the following... ground rabbit (meat, liver, bone) freeze dried lamb (Stella and Chewey's) heavy whipping cream ferretvite pumpkin flax reishi water The rabbit and lamb were in almost equal amounts, but heavier on the rabbit. Maybe a cup and half total of meat. The whipping cream I poured in a fair bit, less than 1/4 cup, more than a few teaspoons. Maybe 1/8th of a cup or so? I just squirted a pile of ferretvite in, about 1/8th cup pumpkin (he does better so far with Lots of fiber), a big pinch of flax, about 1/3 pill's worth of reishi, and a LOT of water. Enough to make it really liquidy. I blended it all, and tried to heat it up some but it got really gross and chunky . I wasn't sure if that was the chunks of rabbit that were not homogenized cooking, or ig it was the cream curdling. I tossed it and fed him some cold. That was at a bit before 1:00 am. I am waiting up for a bit hoping he poops, and I am going to feed him some more before bed. I want to make sure that he has time to get down all the way what he already ate. Both are sleeping right now, Koda on the top level, Kenai on the bottom. Both have newspaper in their litter boxes instead of litter. No poos yet. Kenai ate pork...and a ribbon off of a hammock (one I made). How much I can't tell, but he did some face scratching. So, they are both in "quarrantine" for the night. Updates tomorrow...
|
|
|
Post by katt on Dec 8, 2010 5:36:44 GMT -5
This thread is coming in much handier than I'd ever anticipated Boris is showing several signs of IBD now. He's had problems prior to this, but no major troubles. Now, he's got the consistent funky poops, as well as the decreased appetite, etc. He's going in to the vet next week, but I'm going to play it safe, and start him on this regimen early. Aw I am glad this is coming in handy to someone, but I am sorry that you haven need of it! Update - Koda is in the litter box and seems to be having trouble. I am waiting for him to go potty....
|
|
|
Post by katt on Dec 8, 2010 5:56:01 GMT -5
Ok so not having had enough time to digest the soupies, Koda had a decent poop. Not good, but not white foam.
And as I typed that Kenai pooped....and it was NOT good....
going to take and load picture...Sigh.... maybe the pork does not agree with him? I will give him some soupies too....
|
|
|
Post by katt on Dec 8, 2010 5:57:08 GMT -5
Why is it that if Kenai is sick, Koda is the one who smells stinky? Like my room seriously reeks....and it smells bad like Koda smells.... Kenai is playing in the litter box a lot, but it is hard to say if it is face scratching or if it is just him playing in the box...
|
|
|
Post by katt on Dec 8, 2010 6:23:59 GMT -5
Ok, so had to add, I took another sniff and Kenai stinks too. My room is seriously making me gag right now. I can't describe the smell but it is disgusting. Poor Kenai refused any soup! I left chicken in his cage just in case because he was doing okay on that before. He got all messy when he refused the soup, so he had to get a bath. I gave him some RR just in case it stressed him out too much. He was crying. I don;t even know what to think right now. I am sooo glad it was not Koda's poop...but equally not glad that it was Kenai! At least I KNOW Koda has IBD and we can work with that. Kenai I have no clue. I guess on the bright side he needs his vaccines here soon anyways, so I could maybe, hopefully save a little money by killing 2 birds with one stone if I need to bring him in.... *sigh* I think that they are trying to do me in for good... Did I mention - and this should come as no surprise by now the way Koda has timed things all along - that it is Finals week too? My biggest final is Thursday. Oh and I had an eval due tomorrow, better go do that now. Naturally these things only happen at the worst time. Though there really is no good time. And with me and all the tests and what not, there are a lot of opportunities for "worst times." Kenai has frozen chicken in his dish (wing - bone in, heart, gizzard. Koda ate a fair amount of soup and will get more in the morning, but nothing in his cage tonight. One I do no want him overeating and puking, and 2 I don't want him to spill stinky meat mush all over... My poor little babies! I do not like it when they are sick! ETA: Kenai is eating the chicken.
|
|
|
Post by mustelidmusk on Dec 8, 2010 9:58:52 GMT -5
Katt, there is a STRONG possibility that they two are both stressed out. They are both having some stress. When stress hits, opportunistic "cooties" in the gut can grow out of control and create an imbalance. And then poop is everywhere the ferrets are licking their feet and may be swapping bacteria, etc. I recommend calling your to see if you can drop off poop samples for each of your boys. (No appt. sshall we say a "*hit and run effort?" Foamy, stinking poop probably has a high bacterial content. This same thing happened when I bought Shaman home. It hit a couple of months after I brought him home. I figured Shaman and my other kids were swapping cooties. I even ran cultures, and there was nothing non-native. Just opportunistic flare-ups. Net result - 4 brats squirting "poop" (I'm not sure it even qualified as poop - it was so vile). Tonto even had frank blood in his stool and he squirted poop at least 2.5 feet to hit the door - I was freaked out...it turned out that he had a clostridium flare-up, Shaman and Kachina had patsurella, and I can't remember what Tomichi had. Another thing that may help is giving bottled spring water. Even if your local water is great, the chlorine can kill good bacteria (as well as bad). To avoid the expense and hassle, I know people who pour tap water in a bowl (to expose a large surface of water to the air) and let it sit 24 hours so the chlorine will evaporate before giving it to their ferts. Let me know if you can't do the poop samples right now (you don't have to have them cultured) If your vet has not seen Kenai yet, you may not be able to do the drop-off. There's another thing we can try that may help determine if this is bacteria. -jennifer
|
|
|
Post by katt on Dec 8, 2010 13:59:05 GMT -5
Just a quick update before my test. Kenai had chicken last night and his poos while not 100% look worlds better! Could it have been the pork? That is the only thing in his diet that changed. Koda ate a bunch of soup this morning so we'll see how he's doing later when he actually poops. Kenai still has a voracious appetite despite the bellyache so that is good at least.
|
|
|
Post by mustelidmusk on Dec 8, 2010 18:53:27 GMT -5
could be pork and/or rapid change in what's being fed. Kenai's immune system is still developing. Fingers crossed. Use the pumpkin and flax to see if this helps Koda and Kenai. In retrospect we yanked the supplements when Koda lost his appetite - the loss of appetite may not be related to the supplements.
-jennifer
|
|