Hi folks!
 
I've got a question for the experts.  Our rescue ferret who's been with us
around a month has been climbing into our Parrot cage (many times a day) and
sitting in the seed/poop catching tray to eat our Parrots' tossed out pieces
of kibble.  The bird cage is a LARGE Amazon Environments brand aviary, and
there's just no way to close access to the seed catcher tray from the
ferret.  (but the part which houses the bird is wired really small, so
Weasel can't squeeze thru to the bird!) We've tried a couple ways to block
access without success.
 
Anyone who owns a a bird can attest to the tremendous amounts of food they
'toss overboard' while they're eating!  The bird kibble is good quality
"grain" based food, and to make it appetizing to the bird, the chunks of
chow are fruit flavored and brightly colored with dyes... Our Ferret
"Weasel" absolutely loves these things, he's a real fruit-eater anyhow, so
he makes about 50 trips into the birdcage every day to 'cruise the buffet'.
The ferret has gaily colored red-yellow-green or orange colored poops when
he's done digesting his snacks...(Depending on which color chunks he decides
to pick out of the pile that day-the ferret appears to make color choices!)
 
My concern: How on earth will I ever recognize ECE with this sort of thing
going on?  Are there ANY other symptoms besides "green poop" to go by??
 
The ferret acts normal, so I'm not really worried about ECE, but wonder how
on earth I'll ever know if it strikes him?  Anybody got ideas?
 
Thanks in Advance!
Kim Latas
Spirit Lake, IA
[Posted in FML issue 2178]