From:
Betty
Date: 2002-05-08 03:13:47 UTC
Subject: Thin Ferret, "no go" on baby food.....
It's not just any flavour of baby food you should be using... chicken
with broth and turkey with broth are really the only two I would
recommend The other flavours with rice added or vegetables added are
just not needed in my opinion. Add Nutrical as well.
The hardest thing a ferret owner will have to do is get food into a
reluctant ferret. There are ways to work with this but it takes patience
and some courage on your end. Firstly, baby food from the jar that is
warmed and served off your finger is the first way to start. Ferrets are
varied in their opinion of whether or not to eat anything and so
sometimes they need to be convinced that this is something good for
them. Warmed food is always received better than cold. If your ferret
won't take the food readily off of your finger, then smear some on her
nose and in her mouth, preferably on the side, by the "cheek". Do this
every couple of hours or so for a few days and you will have a willing
participant by the end of it. When a ferret is unwilling to take food
this way, I will mix the baby food with Boost, or Ensure and fill a
needleless syringe with the mix and squirt a little into the mouth
aiming carefully at the side and not to the back of the throat. We don't
want them to choke or inhale fluid. There are mixed feelings about force
feeding a ferret but I look at it this way... force feeding a sick
ferret (which you don't seem to have that is at a crucial stage) and
give them a chance to live, or don't and let them die.
You've mentioned stress and so this is important to note that you have
to introduce foods slowly but consistently. The stress will be reduced
each time you give her some. I have yet to have a ferret not take this
food on their own within 5 days.
Fattening up will happen with proper nutrition, but if you feel that she
is too skinny, then a gradual adding of whipping cream will help when
added to the baby food. Whipping cream will give her the runs until she
gets used to it. Introduce it a little at a time until you can do a 1:4
ratio of whipping cream to baby food. Give it time though and don't give
up on her. It is important to be patient and let her tell you what speed
she is willing to go the distance with you. And if I were you, I would
feed this mix to your other ferrets now while they don't have any
problems. It makes it far easier to feed a healthy ferret a new food
than a sick one.
Just one other comment to make... I have to agree with Chris Lloyd who
talked about how ferrets should be lithe and not fat like we are use to
seeing them. Many people have commented on how skinny my ferrets are.
But if you feel their coats they are soft and silky. They are never sick
(except for the medical cases we take in) and live good long healthy
lives. I don't think that ferrets should be fat or even on the chubby
side. If their ancestors were meant to travel down burrows, they
couldn't have survived with a wide girth. I have one ferret that came to
me with the name Slim and he is the skinniest ferret I have ever seen,
but that is naturally him. I would be concerned if he didn't put on
weight in the winter but he does. he actually looks more normal in the
winter, but spring comes and he is Twiggy all over again. We have to
remember that ferrets are similar to people... that given the
opportunity to binge, some ferrets will do it. Some over eat out of
boredom. Let's rethink the concept of healthy weights and stop aiming
for tubby ferrets. The extra weight is harder on their bodies.
betty and her blur o'fur
for the love of ferrets
Message: 20
From: imfifth@a...
I'm trying to fatten up a sweet little ferret who is physically healthy
but
has some issues due to a questionable past. She's easily stressed and
she's
just been through so much. I've read about the baby food/whipping cream
but
she won't touch ANY flavor of baby food. She's not fond of chicken, I
poached some very nice chicken and it was a "no go". She seems to have
a
sweet tooth but I obviously want to fill her out with healthy balance
foods.
What healthy additions can I add to her diet (Marshalls plus the
Science
Diet Kitten that I'm trying to wean the other ferrets off of) that will
fatten her up in a healthy way?