I let my ferrets out to play and I was cleaning their cage. The two
younger ones, not yet 6 months old were playing just fine. But Ziggy,
the older one, just about a year was huddled in a corner as soon as I
let him out. Now normally, if I leave them out for an hour and come
check on them, the younger ones are still bouncing around while Ziggy's
either wrapped in a blanket on the floor, or in the cube in the cage.
So he apparently doesn't ever have the energy level of the other two,
but not so much as a couple of minutes exploring before plopping down?
So kept trying to coax him out of the corner, but he wanted no part of
it. Bugsy tried to get him to play, but he wanted no part of it, just
walked away, like he definately just wanted to be left alone. So he did
wander over to me at some point while I was cleaning, so I picked him
up. His rear was covered in poo that was dried and all stuck to his fur
and everything and it's red from about a half inch in front of his anus
to the first inch or so of his tail and probably 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide
right around his anus. Got him pretty well cleaned up and see no sores,
no blood. Assume he probably is irritated from sitting in his own
pee/urine? But why would he have suddenly lost control of these
functions? He is walking normally, I'd say, but kinda like a tired old
man. Not a wobbly gait, just very slow and deliberate. And he's so
young too...I have him seperated from the other two now, in case they
are stressing him and to see how well he eats and drinks. I just
rewashed his hind end, cuz it looked like he might have peed since the
earlier bath, but there was no poo stuck to him. I guess I don't pick
them up as often as I should. I let them out to play and if they act
normally, just interact with them and talk to them, but don't
necessarily pick them up and check them over.

Thanks for the input!

Alayne, Ziggy, Emmett and Bugsy

[Posted in FML 6783]