Kit deformaties.

[ferrety f 23]

At 6 weeks they would be best fed 3 or 4 raw meals a day, and vary the meat, if you cant get game chicken wings are cheap and the skin fat and bone will help them a lot, also try heart and chicken livers all available from the big supermarkets or butchers.

[ade33uk 86]

I think its the bone that they are missing , if the mum was fed on plain mince from the shop then she would be lacking in calcium that would have been passed onto the kits through the milk , I always feed my pregnant jills mainly ferret biscuit as that has the right balance of stuff she needs ..

[MikeTheDog 153]

It's nothing to do with the food!..It's the silver gene. Few years back I had a deformed kit and I always feed ferrets in kit properly and feed young kits proper food even before their eyes open....Too much fancy cross breeding going on these days imo..

[Aaron_butcher 17]

thanks everyone for advice. I found 3 dead ones when i got in today, the rest are very skinny and one has an eye infection. i've seperated them from mum and given them a minced up chicken wing mixed with water so its a bit like a yogurt. They look like they are starving but they had constant access to food, there was even food in there when i took the dead ones out. also, they haven't been fed mince for long, only a few days (before that it was chicken wings),

thanks again.

[Jamie m 668]

Just nock um mate cut your loses it may seem cruel but

[Aaron_butcher 17]

i no mate, ive done the last silver with the dodgey leg and im going to see how the rest are in the morning. they've had a drink and a bit of grub but im not getting my hopes up.

[Malt 379]

Had this years ago its the mince it contains only protein no bones or muscle so the kits couldn't build a healthy bone structure .

 

You could try a search but it's a fair age that post now

 

That's what I was going to type B, sounds like a calcium deficiency. I'd start feeding whole chicken wings. My mate had a young hob that had the splayed back legs, and he came good after a change in diet.

[Kay 3,709]

read up about '' Osteodystrophy''

[*nikki* 4]

If the kits where only getting raw meat they may of had Osteodystrophy caused by to much potassium and not enough calcium in the diet.

Young growing ferrets, often entire litters, are most commonly affected. Individuals are unable to stand and the front limbs bow and become distorted they may drag their back legs like a seal. even if they where getting chicken wings you need to be sure they are eating the bones too.

[Malt 379]

read up about '' Osteodystrophy''

 

 

If the kits where only getting raw meat they may of had Osteodystrophy caused by to much potassium and not enough calcium in the diet.

Young growing ferrets, often entire litters, are most commonly affected. Individuals are unable to stand and the front limbs bow and become distorted they may drag their back legs like a seal. even if they where getting chicken wings you need to be sure they are eating the bones too.

 

That's the one girls! The back legs sort of splay out at right angles to the body and drag behind.

[MikeTheDog 153]

Doubt a three/four week old kit would manage to devour the bone!...Chuck in some proper food next time you have a litter, bit of road kill or go shoot some vermin.

 

 

 

Simples!

 

[Malt 379]

They may not be able to crunch the main leg/wing bones Mike, but they can still chew on them if they're there! Also the rib bones on chicken/rabbit carcases are ideal for small kits.

[twiggy 12]

its swimmers disease google it get the calcium an vit b in to them .

[Coneytrappr 30]

Could be a calcium deficiency or could be dodgy silver genes. Could even be both; I once read that ferrets with the silver gene can have trouble with absorbing the right amounts of nutrition from their feed...seemed to fit with my own experiences as the silver hob I had never could keep weight on no matter how much he ate. His poley littermate was a good do'er on the same grub.

I think you did right to cull them mate. For the ones that are left try game with small light bones...pigeon, rabbit ribs etc. ATB with it .

[Jamie m 668]

Could be a calcium deficiency or could be dodgy silver genes. Could even be both; I once read that ferrets with the silver gene can have trouble with absorbing the right amounts of nutrition from their feed...seemed to fit with my own experiences as the silver hob I had never could keep weight on no matter how much he ate. His poley

od do'er on the same grub.

I think you did right to cull them mate. For the ones that are left try game with small light bones...pigeon, rabbit ribs etc. ATB with it .

Or if he's that bothers and really wants the right answer instead of 50 million dirent possible he could take one to the vets for testing ; ) sounds to me like the whole lot needs nocking it's all good and well rearing good kits but not for them for me if there as bad as said