From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2004-01-14 17:25:08 UTC
Subject: RE: [ferrethealth] Higher protein for one kidney -- right? Other Q''''s
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <3627968.1074101108327.JavaMail.root@indium.smartgroups.com>
Author wrote:
> So leave the Timmy's out. Some ferrets WILL NOT EAT baby food, wet food or anything they perceive as funky. Don't you think it's better to try the food their used to versus a last resort force feeding?
> Lisa
Okay, let's clarify things. Squeeze bottles do NOT necessarily mean forced feedings. Some ferrets just plain take soupy foods more readily from a sqeeze bottle than from a bowl, spoon, or finger. I don't know why; maybe it brings up nursing memories, or maybe some also get treats that way, but it is an approach which works for a number and it's not a force-feeding thing but simply offering the bottle and then letting them try the food that way. It is important to learn how to do it, but it is very safe when done right. The sqeeze bottles offer so much control that a person just waits till the ferret if trying to get food out and then releases a little more -- same as when giving something like Ferretone from a small squeeze bottle.
My strong suspicions are that Mary knows how to do this well, but putting in the caution means that others who don't know how will take the time to learn if they are in a position to do it at some point. (I also know that Mary and i know each other well enough that she would recognize what I was doing and why.)
Please, do, though, leave out any meds (natural or not) which the vet has not already okayed for that particular individual at that particular time in life with the cautions of the components taken into account for the individual animal. With one who already is down to one kidney and it hasn't been said if that kidney is compromised I'd be especially prone to be careful about avoiding licorice bark because kidney disease can cause clots to be formed and thrown all by itself, so messing with blood pressure and heart rhythm in unpredicable ways might increase that risk factor.