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Poop Chart
In: "Newsletter
of Great Lakes Ferret Association", March - April, 2001
Yes, ferret
lovers tend to be poop watchers. We’re either cleaning it up or
examining its color and texture to monitor the health of our
ferrets. Here is a chart on the various color and consistencies
that one may see and what it might mean. This information was
originally posted to the Ferret Mailing List by Dr. Bruce
Williams, noted veterinary pathologist and ferret expert.
Green
poop
a very
non-specific sign - it just means that food is moving through too
fast. The normal brown color seen in feces is the end product of
breakdown of old red blood cells. The pigment goes through a green
stage called biliverdin, before it becomes brown (called
stercobilin). So if it is going through at an accelerated rate, it
never breaks all the way down, and has a green color to it.
Anything that accelerates passage of food or causes diarrhea can
result in green color - ECE, rapid food changes, lymphoma, just
about anything.
Black
tarry poop
Very
suggetive of gastric bleeding and usually associated with gastric
ulcers. You have to have significant bleeding in the stomach for
the feces to turn black. The color is the result of digestion of
blood, which usually only occurs in the stomach.
Bloody
poop
If you
see fresh blood in the poop - it is usually either from the large
bowel or rectum (if seen in small amounts) - or if there is a lot
of blood, it could come from the entire length of the G.I. Tract.
Massive hemorrhage is seen either from severe gastric bleeds or
shock in ferrets and, as one might imagine, is a really bad sign.
Birdseed
poop
Generally
a sign of maldigestion or malabsorption. Also non-specific, it can
be seen with any disease that severely affects the small intestine.
Most commonly seen with ECE, the individual seeds are usually
undigested fat and starch complexes. When you see this, you should
consider removing a ferret from kibble and going to a bland,
easily digested supplement for a while.
Pencil-lead
thin stools
Think
partial obstruction-usually a foreign body.
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FACT
Supplemental Note:
Add
to this list:
foreign bodies in poop
your ferret’s
been EATING something! Make sure you search out whatever the
little buggers have been chewing and take it away! Many
ferrets will eat cloth-if it’s cotton, it should be
digestible, but be more cautious about synthetic fabrics.
And if the object is plastic or rubber, you should bring
your ferret for a full x-ray series and carefully watch
their eating & elimination for several days
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