From:
Ferret Wise Shelter
Date: 2003-07-10 20:33:47 UTC
Subject: Re: [ferrethealth] ferret stopped eating 8-in-1 Ultra Blend
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Ferret Food
Message-Id: <5.1.1.6.2.20030710163305.01f9aa90@mail.usaexpress.net>
At 06:56 PM 7/10/03 +0100, you wrote:
My 3 year old ferret stopped eating eating 8-in-1 Ultra Blend Ferret
Food. She has been eating it for the last 2 years and has been
fine. After we ran out of her last bag, we bought a new one and she would
not eat it.
HI Diana--
This is a more common than you would think problem. The ferrets imprint on
their foods at an early age - so for other readers adding in several foods
while the ferret is young is a beneficial thing!
In manufacturing if the batch ingredients change - the smell will change
and some ferrets will not eat the food. In our years, at the shelter we
find that offering a mix of foods eliminates this problem as mixing several
foods in a batch makes them smell more like each other. With each adopted
ferret we send along several days worth of foods with as many as 3-6 foods
in it!
This won't help you now BUT if you find something the ferret will eat you
need to consider mixing another food or several in ( gradually adding the
foods not all at once) eventually to deter this same problem.
Since the ferret is not eating at all I suggest finding a recipe for duck
soup mixing that up and start hand feeding IMMEDIATELY-
Then pick up a bland food to start such as Friskies kitten ... if you can
get the ferret back on some kibble it is better than no kibble and once
the appetite is stimulated you may find that the new previously rejected
bag will be accepted.
You might also want to try the 8 in 1 ULTIMATE kibble. It can be purchased
in all Petco stores- the formulation is much better than the ultra and the
smell may be similar!
Hope this helps
Alicia D
www.ferretwise.org