From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2003-10-23 18:21:56 UTC
Subject: RE: [ferrethealth] Dr.Sue.. re:hairballs
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <6379972.1066933316822.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
Author wrote:
> < Dr. Sue wrote recently of possibly dissolving hairballs with enzymes.
> >
> This works for rabbits but from what I have found in hairballs they
> seemed to be made of a lot of stuff that was not ferret fur. Chris.
I was told once by someone in animal nutrition (but I can't recall who, off-hand) that rabbit fur is quite unlike other furs tested. That it breaks down easily into little spikes with any number of approaches, while other furs just don't do that.
I sure can see the importance of having an approach when the client can't or won't agree to surgery, or the animal just isn't up to it, which is what it seems to me is being said in giving the approach.
We have twice that I can recall had ferret pass large furballs through their intestinal tracts all on their own; in one case doing so created damage. Both were large males. One of those never required stomach surgery. The other had a deformed stomach (one of multiple deformities) which became increasingly larger, more thinnly walled, and more flaccid over time so it simply did not work right and finally shredded after it had reached a point months before where the vets considered it no longer operable affter 4 surgeries over the years. He also LOVED to groom all the other ferrets every day.
We had one other (also a good sized male) whose "fur-ball" on checking turned out to be largely fake fleece and fake fur. He was a boy who liked to eat food in his bedding and would take it there to eat very consistently. The upshot was that I covered most of the beds with sheeting material and didn't use the rest till he was gone, with the result that we wound up with bedding that was still soft, but it holds up better and it cleans more easily.
We almost never give laxative ourselves, except during shedding seasons and when they act like they can use it, though I am personally starting to lean to tryingto figure out which ones may need it more often and which ones not. The one we have now who most often acts like it is need is another large male. Funny, I'd never thought about that before now, but I suspect it is just a coincidence. Certainly, over the last 21 years we have had other large males and they had no problems with fur balls.