From:
teresa@mivox.com
Date: 2003-03-20 03:56:56 UTC
Subject: HELP Please! RE: How much soft food per day?
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <894452.1048132616668.JavaMail.root@scandium>
Author wrote:
> Here is some good info here on feeding the sick ferret from Dr. Williams site:
> http://www.afip.org/ferrets/babyfood.html
Thanks for the link, but I've read that page over and over hoping I missed a sentence somwhere.
My problem is that Zan will NOT lap the food off my fingers anymore... this is the same food he was eating like a horse a week ago... The recommendation Dr. Williams gives to let them east as much as they want is great, if a ferret will eat, but Zan will not eat. I have to forcibly pry his mouth open to syringe feed him.
And I really need to know *how much I should be feeding him* per day. Please. Someone help. I've seen so much good advice here for other people... I just need to know how much soft food to feed him a day. He's trying to starve himself to death, and it's like torturing him to try and feed him, so I'd at least like to know that I'm feeding him enough to make a difference. He's been on a new run of antibiotics for about a week and a half now, and he usually starts to bounce back, and eat and put on weight as soon as he goes back on medication.
Or should I just have him put to sleep? I've been thinking about that too... His quality of life right now is nonexistent. He's so weak he can't even make it into the litter box anymore, but he's got enough strength left to clench his teeth shut when I try to feed him. Sometimes I think it would be a great releif to both of us to let him give up the fight, which it seems like he's already trying to do. I've never been unable to feed him before.
Someone please give me some advice here, or some moral support or something. This is really tearing me up. It's hard to believe a normally benign bacteria and some ulcers could be this difficult...