From:
"kristinepotter"
Date: 2008-11-17 19:36:10 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: Thin ferret
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
I've got a pretty thin one as well, Zoie, and she's also a new baby
in my house. My other ferret, Athena, is a roly-poly, so the playing
scene looks a lot like the one Tressie describes. I also went to see
a new girl at a shelter yesterday, and she was quite thin but healthy.
My Zoie, however, has some hair thinning on her back and her coat is
a bit rough, so my vet suspected adrenal disease at her first vet
check. But, she's not adrenal, as she lacks several other symptoms
necessary to diagnose the disease. I'm just watching her for now.
What I do know is that Zoie came from pretty sad conditions when I
got her at one year old. The lack of coat and fat could be a result
of poor nutrition, in addition to several other factors. From what
I've been able to learn in that respect, it could take a good year,
perhaps a couple of coat blows, before her weight increases and her
coat gets silky and full. Supplementing her diet could be an option;
however, I'm just watching closely at this time to be certain other
symptoms don't start to appear.
Oh, and she did have a bacterial ear infection, so even that
infection (having no idea how long it was present) could have
affected her weight / coat. On the other hand, like I stated above,
I did meet a perfectly healthy ferret yesterday that is the same age
as Athena (near three years old), and she too is very thin and high
energy (although, her coat is full and silky, unlike Zoie's coat).
I agree with Sukie and Tressie that your vet should see the ferret
and rule out any problems, but lacking other concerning symptoms,
Itsy could be merely a lean and lanky fert, which might turn out to
be the case with Zoie as well (I wish I could have some of that
metabolism myself).
Kristine
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