Message Number: FHL14032 | New FHL Archives Search
From: "Tamara Delp"
Date: 2011-09-13 22:16:56 UTC
Subject: RE: [ferrethealth] Re: Food Allergy Diarrhea questions
To: <ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com>

Via a rescue, I acquired a six-year old female ferret with intermittent
loose, seedy stools. Additionally, she would dig through the shelter mix (of
several kibbles) and eat only one kind until loose stools would begin, then
she would switch.

Initially diagnosed with IBD and treated with antibiotics, I also suspected
food allergy and took her to a different vet to be tested. She tested
sensitive to duck, chicken, turkey, plastic, fiberglass, bugs, and all of
the kibble foods that I took to be tested.

The vet suggested leaky gut probably due to poor quality food earlier in her
life. With leaky gut, food does not get digested properly before "leaking"
through the digestive system into the body. The body then sees the food as
foreign invaders and attacks.

I switched her to EVO canned 95% vennison, changed all the plastic
feeding/drinking utensils out, covered all plastic parts of her cage. The
change was dramatic and nearly overnight. The vet also suggested using
Geneflora, a heat tolerant probiotic, which I added to her "mush".

I later introduced other canned meat sources as well (rabbit, fish, lamb,
sometimes beef) and eventually she also started eating EVO Fish formula cat
food kibble. Also, I would make her bone broth using rabbit to drink and as
the liquid base for mixing with the canned food. In people, homemade bone
broths (can't use any commercial ones for this purpose) provide suppoprt for
healing the gut.

I did attempt some raw feeding, but she did not take to that, even in small
amounts mixed with her usual mush. I believe if she would, raw ground rabbit
and mouse (with bones) may have been even better. If you feed any raw, you
may want to try adding it to see if it works.






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