Message Number: YG9771 | New FHL Archives Search
From: Jacqui Snyder
Date: 2002-01-03 04:08:00 UTC
Subject: Re: Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Inflammatory Bowel Disease? This sounds familiar. We also have an adult
male ferret, about four, who has had loose, occasionally 'birdseedy' stools
for a long time, at least a year. Our vet believes it is probably irritable
bowel syndrome. I don't know the cause in ferrets, but in humans IBS is
thought to be possibly an autoimmune disease, like rheumatoid arthritis.

Our ferret has not lost weight, but over time his coat has become rougher
and less glossy, so I think he isn't absorbing nutrients as well as he
should. Our ferrets are fed Bob's Chicken Gravy twice a day, and get TF
free-fed. (The 'chicken gravy' is a mixture of cooked ground chicken
(ground with bones), a little beef fat, a small amount of oatmeal,
Ferretvite, and water.) Last week, our vet suggested lowering the fat in
this ferret's diet a little bit, so the next batch of chicken gravy will be
made without the additional beef fat. The vet also suggested giving the
ferret 0.25 cc of Pepto-bismol once or twice a day.

You might try an addition to the ferret's diet--give him chicken baby food
several times a day, as well as his usual food. This is easier on a
ferret's digestive system than carbohydrate-based dry foods, and whatever
your ferret has, it sounds like easily-digested foods would be best for him
right now.

Best of luck,
Jacqueline