From:
Karen Purcell, DVM
Date: 2001-09-10 10:34:00 UTC
Subject: Re: HELP: Diet during illness
Danielle,
>SNIP> Her sugar levels looks
> normal, and she tested negative for HPV.
What is HPV?
She was dehydrated and the
> blood tests showed that her kidneys weren't functioning properly. He
> put her on antibiotics for a week and is hoping that it's just a
> kidney infection (rather than failure) or something else that's minor
> that's causing her to not eat.
> SNIP
But she'll eat a lot more if I feed
> her by finger.
>
This is very normal for ferrets. I've had to finger feed some
ferrets for months.
> She's already showing signs of improvement, so I'm hoping that the
> medicine is working. But I have a concern: What has been your
> experience with returning your ferrets who have been on soft food
> (only hand-fed) to a normal eating schedule (hard food)? How do you
> wean them off special treatment? Will she ever return to hard food
> or will I have to hand-feed her forever? I'm concerned about her
> teeth (not to mention the fact that it takes a long time to get a
> decent amount in her)!
Check the archives on this one - I could write you a book, but it
has been covered pretty thoroughly.
-Dr. Karen
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