From:
julie_fossa@yahoo.com
Date: 2004-04-20 03:19:57 UTC
Subject: RE: re : peter and his wieght problem.
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-ID: <3262331.1082431197932.JavaMail.root@thallium.smartgroups.com>
How old is Peter?
Do you kow if Peter's vet has considered the possibility of Peter having Megaesophagus? These ferrets will loose weight and don't want to eat. Since eating is uncomfortable, they may shy away from food, even though they are essentially starving.
You might try offering some very watered down warmed soup with Peter standing on your lap so his torso is in an upright position, with the syringe or medicine doser higher than head level, so he has to look up a little to eat; deliver it slowly to the tip of his mouth. Often this will allow air trapped in the esophagus to escape, and you may hear gurgling and squirting sounds.
Since he seems to like the Iams Kitten, you might see if you can soften it and put it through the blender so you can feed it from a medicine doser. Gerber Chicken thins easily, and he may accept it if offered in this position, since gravity will help it go down and enter his stomach instead of sitting in his esophagus.
There are a number of MegaE posts in the archives. You might look at them to see if it feels like a fit. Your vet can run tests to verify if it is or not.
Good luck with your little guy,
Julie
Author wrote:
> the vet is concerned about peter... they think peter should of gained
> more wieght then he did. ....he looks and feels like he is starving but
> their is plenty of food around for him to eat. ....will feeding him
> just staight iams kitten be bad or harmful . it's the only thing he eats on his own!
.... forcing him is the
> only way to get him to try anything other then the iams kitten. thinking maybe if i
> just give him the iams he will eat a little more then the mix of totally ferret & iams
> kitten.