From:
"Sandra Reyes"
Date: 2007-08-30 13:26:00 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Recently adopted shelter ferret: good poops in cage/bad poops out
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
Hello--I'm writing to see if anyone on the group has some insight
into what to us seems like a behavioral or anxiety issue in our new
ferret.
A month ago, we adopted an approximately 4 year old fixed male from a
shelter. He had been in the shelter for a year and a half and has
adrenal disease, diagnosed by the classic hair loss patterns.
Otherwise, he's in good health. (He's had 2 melatonin implants and we
just started him on monthly Lupron shots. Our vet is very experienced
with ferrets and we are not questioning any medical treatment.) We
brought the new guy home where we already have a 4 year old fixed
female. We live in a 4 room condo and keep it well ferret-proofed to
facilitate free-roaming ferrets.
What we're noticing is when our new guy, Krypto, is out of his cage
for a few hours (supervised) his poops become less formed, more
birdseedy, and with more mucus, ultimately becoming diarrhea. When
he's in his cage overnight or during the day while we're at work, he
has perfectly formed, normal sized poops. We've gotten in the habit
of letting him out of his cage for shorter intervals and that seems
to help keep his poops normal.
Our theory is that he must have spent so much time in a cage at the
shelter that he's a little agoraphobic and gets stressed out from
being out of his cage for long (30 minutes plus) periods of time.
Mind you, he doesn't *act* stressed out--he's playful and engaging
and explores the environment. He and our female seem to like each
other too. His box usage in the cage is perfect but when he's out of
the cage he is still in training, but we were expecting that.
(A side note: the week after we brought Krytpo home, our female came
down with green slime disease pretty badly. It was diagnosed via
fecal smear and after 2 weeks of antibiotics and a lot of hand-
feeding, she has recovered. We kept the 2 of them apart per vet
advice, and a fecal smear of both of their poop came back clear
afterwards. We're pretty confident that this is not relevant to his
anxiety-poops when he's out of the cage. He's definitely a carrier
though, and now so is she.)
Has anyone experienced anxiety in their ferrets? Does our theory
about Krypto's agoraphobia sound plausible? We're hopeful that it's
just a matter of time for him to get more comfortable with his new
home.
Thanks!
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